r 
THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
AUGUST,  18  7  2. 
ON  MONOBROMATED  CAMPHOR. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Monobromated  camphor  was  discovered  by  Th.  Swarts  in  1861,* 
who  obtained  it  by  heating  Laurent's  bibromide  of  camphor  (C^H^ 
02Br2),  in  a  sealed  tube,  to  100°  C.  After  several  hours,  the  color 
of  bromine  disappears,  hydrobromic  acid  is  formed,  and  a  brownish 
oil,  which  gradually  becomes  crystalline,  and  contains  the  new  com- 
pound. If  bromine  and  camphor,  in  the  proper  proportions,  are 
heated,  in  a  sealed  tube,  for  three  hours,  in  the  water-bath,  the  same 
compounds  are  formed.  The  crystalline  mass  is  washed  with  water, 
recrystallized  from  alcohol  after  treatment  with  animal  charcoal, 
washed  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of  potassa,  to  free  it  from  hydro- 
bromic acid,  then  with  much  water,  and  finally  recrystallized  from  a 
mixture  of  alcohol  and  ether. 
After  the  publication  of  Professor  Deneffe's  accountf  of  the  medi- 
cinal properties  of  this  compound,  I  attempted  to  prepare  it,  at  the 
request  of  Professor  Wm.  A.  Hammond,  of  New  York,  and  followed 
at  first  the  above  process,  not  being  aware  at  the  time  of  the  subse- 
quent researches  of  W.  H.  Perkin,  to  which  I  shall  presently  refer. 
Laurent  prepared  bibromide  of  camphor  by  dissolving  camphor  in 
cold  bromine,  and  freeing  the  crystals,  which  form  after  some  time, 
by  rapid  expression  between  bibulous  paper.  Gerhard  states  that 
these  crystals  decompose  on  the  application  of  heat  into  bromine  and 
*  L'Institut,  1862-63.    Kopp  &  Will's  Jahresbericht.  1862,  462. 
f  Amer.  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1872,  84. 
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