Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1891. 
Digitonin  and  Digitogenin. 
453 
and  the  molecular  refraction  49  07  ;  this  points  to  the  existence  of 
two  ethylene  unions  in  the  compound.  It  combines  with  2  mole- 
cules of  bromine,  and  on  treatment  with  silver  oxide,  a  hydroxyl 
derivative  is  formed. 
Linaloe  oil  appears  to  be  a  mixture  of  several  compounds,  but  no 
terpenes  could  be  detected.  The  principal  constituent,  which  is 
termed  linaldbl,  boils  at  about  195-1900  (?  185-1900),  and  has  a 
sp.  gr.  0-8702  at  20°/20°  ;  the  molecular  refraction  is  49-33;  the 
compound  combines  with  4  atoms  of  bromine  and  resembles 
geraniol. 
A  sample  of  "  German  melisse  oil "  gave  a  compound  with  sodium 
hydrogen  sulphite ;  this  was  decomposed  in  a  current  of  steam  ; 
the  resulting  product  has  the  formula  C10H18O,  and  boils  at  204- 
2090  ;  the  sp.  gr.  is  0-868 1  at  1 50,  and  the  molecular  refraction  48-59. 
It  combines  directly  with  2  atoms  of  bromine.  On  treating  the 
compound  C10H18O  with  silver  oxide,  the  corresponding  acid, 
C10H18O2  is  obtained,  which  is  liquid  ;  the  silver  salt  is  white.  On 
oxidation,  the  aldehyde  yields  isovaleric  acid. 
The  above  compound  C10H18O  is  identical  with  a  technical  pro- 
duct termed  "  citronellone  "  and  with  a  compound  with  the  same 
name  prepared  by  Gladstone  and  Wright ;  it  is  also  probably  the 
same  as  the  citronellic  aldehyde  of  Dodge  (compare  Am.  Jour.  Ph., 
1890,  356). 
The  author  applies  the  term  "  olefinic  camphenes,"  to  compounds 
of  the  formulae  C10H20O,C10H18O,C10H16O.  These,  which  are  always 
open  chain  alcohols,  aldehydes,  or  ketones,  have  a  sp.  gr.  of  o-86  to 
O  90  at  20°/20°,  and  a  higher  refractive  power  than  the  isomeric 
compounds  with  closed  chains. 
"  — —  u 
DIGITONIN  AND  DIGITOGENIN.1 
By  H.  Kiliani. 
The  author  has  shown  in  a  former  communication  (1890),  that 
pure  commercial  digitalin,  when  heated  with  dilute  hydrochloric 
acid,  gives,  besides  dextrose  and  galactose,  a  large  quantity  of  digi- 
togenin, C15H2403. 
Digitonin  is  best  obtained  from  commercial  digitalin  by  extrac- 
tion with  85  per  cent,  alcohol.    Digitalin  (1  part)  is  dissolved  in  85 
1  Berichte,  24,  339-347  ;  reprinted  from  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1S91,  p.  576. 
