Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug.,  1892. 
On  Maize  Oil. 
433 
ON  MAIZE  OIL.1 
By  J.  Cruickshank  Smith,  B.Sc. 
The  grain  of  the  maize  plant  [Zea  Mais),  which  is  extensively 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  starch,  can  be  made  to  furnish  an  oil, 
whose  properties  would  seem  to  render  it  suitable  for  several  techni- 
cal applications.  At  the  suggestion  of  Professor  E.  J.  Mills,  the 
author  recently  examined  a  sample  of  this  oil  which  is  believed  to 
be  genuine,  and  the  results  are  embodied  in  the  present  paper.  The 
sample  was  of  a  bright  golden  color ;  it  had  a  somewhat  peculiarly 
"  starchy"  odor,  and  its  taste  was  mild  and  not  unpleasant. 
Its  specific  gravity  at  io°  C.  was  0  9267  ;  at  150  C,  0  9244  ;  and 
at  20°  C,  0-9218.  The  mean  co-efficient  of  expansion  (corrected  for 
glass)  between  io°  and  200.  C.  was  0-000706.  Schaedler  (Techno- 
logie  der  Fette  und  Oele)  gives  the  specific  gravity  at  150  as  0  92 15, 
and  Professor  Mills  states  that  in  1884  he  found  a  rather  coarse 
brown  sample  to  have  a  specific  gravity  of  0  9262.  At  —  io°, 
according  to  Schaedler,  the  oil  sets  to  a  solid  mass.  The  author 
finds,  however,  that  when  exposed  to  intense  cold,  the  oil  becomes 
turbid,  owing  to  the  decomposition  of  solid  matter  at —  io°,  and 
that  below  that  temperature  it  becomes  very  viscous,  but  is  still 
fluid  at  —  200.  The  precipitated  solid  matter  is  entirely  re-dissolved 
on  warming  again. 
The  bromine  and  iodine  absorptions  were  as  follows : 
Per  Cent. 
Bromine  absorption,     .  -  66-50 
Iodine  absorption,   122-90 
Iodine  absorption  (calculated;  Br.  absorption  X  W)  i°5'5o 
It  was  observed  that  when  the  bromine  solution  remained  in 
contact  with  the  oil  for  more  than  fifteen  minutes  the  results  obtained 
were  somewhat  higher,  and  did  not  agree  among  themselves,  owing, 
no  doubt,  to  a  secondary  oxidizing  action.  A  thick  dark-colored 
sample  was  found  by  Professor  Mills  in  1 881  to  have  a  bromine 
absorption  of  74  42  per  cent. 
On  saponification  with  alcoholic  potash,  the  total  KOH  absorbed 
was  1934  per  cent.,  which  gives  a  "  saponification  equivalent"  of 
290-07.  The  oil  was  readily  saponified  in  the  cold,  and  it  was  at 
first  thought  that  this  ready  saponification  might  be  made  use  of  for 
1  Abstract  from  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  June  30, 
1892  ;  reprinted  from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  July  16,  p.  47. 
