Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1918. 
Oitlcica  Oil. 
727 
OITICICA  OIL— A  NEW  DRYING  OIL.1 
By  E.  Richards  Bolton,  F.I.C.,  and  Cecil  Revis,  F.I.C. 
During  the  early  part  of  1917  we  examined  a  new  oilseed  sent 
apparently  for  the  first  time  from  Brazil,  bearing  the  native  name  of 
oiticica  or  oilizika. 
The  sample  consisted  of  kernels  which  were  oval-shaped  and 
averaged  in  length  from  about  2.8  to  4  cm.,  and  in  diameter  1  to  2 
cm.,  ten  seeds  weighing  about  35  grms.  The  kernels  readily  split 
into  separate  portions,  much  in  the  same  way  as  do  the  seeds  of 
Theobroma  cacao,  and,  in  fact,  they  closely  resemble  these  seeds  in 
color,  being  perhaps  rather  redder  in  tone,  but  having  a  character- 
istic veining  on  the  outer  surface.  They  have  a  peculiar  and  very 
distinctive  smell,  which  might  be  described  as  a  heavy  and  over- 
powering odor,  rather  recalling  the  smell  of  tung  oil,  a  very  inter- 
esting property,  seeing  that  the  oil,  as  subsequently  described,  bears 
a  distinct  resemblance  to  tung  oil.  There  was  considerable  difficulty 
in  tracing  the  botanical  derivation  of  these  seeds,  but  it  now  seems 
certain  that  they  are  the  seeds  of  Conepia  grandi folia,  natural  order 
Rosacea. 
The  kernels  contain  62  per  cent,  of  an  oil,  which  at  normal  tem- 
peratures is  semi-solid,  though  at  higher  temperatures  the  solid  por- 
tion may  be  seen  to  be  contained  in  a  medium  of  liquid  oil.  The 
color  of  the  solidified  oil  is  a  pale  cream-yellow,  while  the  liquid  is 
a  bright  golden-yellow.   The  mass  solidified  with  a  crenated  surface. 
The  nature  of  the  oil  present  in  the  seeds  was  such  that  special 
arrangements  had  to  be  made  in  order  to  avoid  the  absorption  of 
oxygen  from  the  air,  which  takes  place  exceedingly  rapidly  as  soon 
as  the  oil  is  in  a  liquid  condition.  For  this  reason  the  drying  and 
storing  of  the  oil  were  carried  out  in  an  atmosphere  of  carbon  di- 
oxide, and  special  precautions  were  taken  to  avoid  oxidation  during 
the  measuring  of  the  various  quantities  for  analysis.  So  long  as  the 
oil  is  in  the  solid  state  it  does  not  appear  to  be  so  sensitive  to 
oxidation. 
The  following  analytical  figures  were  obtained: 
Melting -Point. — As  the  oil  consists  of  a  mixture  of  oils  varying 
from  liquids  to  hard  solids,  no  definite  figures  can  be  given  to  repre- 
1  From  The  Analyst,  July,  1918. 
