The constituents of the essential oil of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1907?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The constituents of the essential oil of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/26 (page 2046)
    The fractions collected between 195° and 245° were all fragrant liquids, whereas the odour of those obtained between 245° and 275° was not so distinctive. As all the fractions which distilled above 195° under ordinary pressure were too small in amount to admit of a satisfactory examina¬ tion, the nature of the oxygenated constituents of the oil was more fully determined by means of a larger quantity of material, designated as heavy oil of nutmeg, which was kindly supplied to us by Messrs. Stafford Allen & Sons. The identification of these constituents will therefore be described in connexion with the examination of the so-called “ heavy oil of nutmeg ” in the second section of this paper. It may here be noted, however, that among the above fractions those boiling at 255—265° and 265—275° respectively contained a consider¬ able amount of myristicin, for they both readily yielded the dibromo- myristicin dibromide, which crystallised in silky needles melting at 128—129° (Ber„ 1903, 36, 3446). Acids Obtained by the Hydrolysis of the Oil. The alkaline, aqueous liquid obtained by the hydrolysis of the oil, as previously described, was acidified with sulphuric acid and distilled with steam. The distillate contained some oily drops, and towards the end of the operation a small amount of solid passed over. It was therefore extracted with ether, the ethereal liquid washed with water, dried with anhydrous sodium sulphate, and the ether removed. About 1 gram of a dark brown, oily product was thus obtained, which was converted into a sodium salt, and from the latter five fractions of silver salts were prepared. These were washed, dried in a vacuum over sulphuric acid, and analysed : Fraction i} )} » )> I. II. III. IY. Y. Ag = 31*1. Ag = 33*1. Ag = 44*0. Ag = 50*9. Ag = 60-0. 0 1475 of silver salt gave 0*0459 Ag. 0T107 „ „ „ 0-0366 Ag. 01213 „ „ „ 0-0534 Ag. 0*1601 „ „ „ 0-0815 Ag. 0*1583 „ „ „ 0-0950 Ag. It is evident from these results that the acids extracted by ether represented a rather complex mixture, apparently containing some myristic acid, since silver myristate requires Ag = 32’2 per cent. Their nature was, however, more fully ascertained by the subsequent examination of the corresponding product from “ heavy oil of nutmeg.” The aqueous distillate, which had been extracted with ether as above-described, still contained some acid, which was converted into a barium salt. The hot solution of the latter, on cooling, deposited a quantity (about 2 grams) of a salt in glistening leaflets. This