Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
June,  1921. 
Pelargonium  Oil. 
383 
acid  of  the  boiling-point  at  2500  C,  which  has  probably  the  formula 
C9H15COOH. 
In  the  Reunion-oil  there  are  ester-contents  of  about  31  per  cent. ; 
in  the  Algerian  oil,  29.1  per  cent. ;  in  the  Spanish  oil,  23.7  per  cent. 
The  occurrence  of  pelargonium-acid  in  pelargonium-oil  is  very 
doubtful,  though  Pless  (Semmler,  Aether.  Oele,  I,  1906,  p.  766)  be- 
lieved to  have  found  it  there,  and  though  it  is  also  indicated  by 
Gintl  (Zeitschr.  allgem.  Oesterr.  Apoth.  Ver.,  XVII,  1879,  p.  268). 
Charabot  and  Gatin  (Journ.  d Alger.  Inp.,  XVII,  19 13,  p.  290)  also 
named  citral  CioH160,  an  aldehyde,  which  is  distinguished  from 
geraniol  by  the  possession  of  COH  instead  of  CH2OH  in  the  final 
member.  That  substance  had  been  isolated  from  the  true  rose-oil, 
but  it  is  not  known  to  me,  whether  it  has  been  found  in  the  pelar- 
gonium-oil. 
DIFFERENCES  IN  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  PELARGONIUM-OIL 
ACCORDING  TO  ITS  ORIGIN. 
According  to  Charabot  (Bull.  Soc.  chim.  ser.  3,  XVII,  1897, 
pp.  489-492),  the  pelargonium-oil  differs  from  the  palmarosa-oil  by 
the  existence  of  active  esters.  He  Has  shown  that  by  addition  of 
an  alcoholic  caustic  lye  polarization  decreases  in  the  pelargonium- 
oil,  but  not  in  the  palmarosa-oil,  which  proves  that  the  latter  does 
not  contain  active  esters.  His  experiments  referring  to  the  pelar- 
gonium-oil are  found  in  the  following  table : 
Power 
of  polar-  Decrease 
Specific  Power  of 
ization 
of  the 
Contents  of 
grav- 
polar- 
after 
power  0 
Origin  of  geranyl- 
Alcohol 
Total 
ity  at 
15°  C. 
ization 
saroni- 
polar- 
theoil.      tiglinate.  CioHi80 
alcohol. 
1-ioomm.  fication. 
ization. 
Algeria,  1895,  25.31% 
46.22% 
62.74% 
.896 
-9°  50' 
-5°  46' 
4°  4' 
Algeria,  1895,  22.11 
50.80 
65.23 
.899 
—9°  20' 
-4°  24' 
4°  56' 
Algeria,  1896,  23.32 
60.30 
75.52 
1.898 
-9°  48' 
—5°  46' 
4°2' 
Algeria,  1896,  25.66 
41.80 
58.55 
.895 
— io°  4' 
-5° 
5°  4' 
Algeria,  1896,  24.86 
55-4 
71.62 
.894 
—9°  10' 
-5°  8' 
40  2' 
Reunion,  32.16 
46.12 
67.11 
.8915 
— 9°  20' 
-7°  40' 
i°40' 
According  to  these  figures  the  Reunion-oil  rather  differs  from 
the  Algerian  oil. 
Tiemann  and  Semmler  (Ber.  deutsch.  chem.  Ges.,  XXIX,  1896, 
p.  924),  indicate  the  following  differences: 
