ESSENTIAL OIL OF TAXODIUM DISTICHUM

OIL OF TAXODIUM DISTICHUM

The oil extracted from the wood of Taxodium distichum ("Southern Cypress") by means of alcohol, has been examined by Odell.1 He fractionated the resinous residue in vacuo and has thus isolated a hydrocarbon C₁₅H₂₄ which he calls cypressene ; it is an inodorous oily liquid, boiling-point (35 mm.) 218° to 220° C., boiling-point (778 mm.) 295° to 300° C.; [α]₂₀^D + 6,53°. He has also extracted a compound C₁₂ H₂₀O, a bright yellow oil with a strong odour, possessing the properties of an aldehyde; it has received the name of cypral (boiling-point, 35 mm., 182° to 185° G.); it is dextro-rotatory.

Cypressene yields, on oxidation with nitric acid, an amorphous yellow product and an acid possessing the odour of isovaleric acid; the amorphous product dissolves in alkalies with a red coloration.

Odell has also examined the oil from the cones of the same tree. When harvested in September the cones yield 1 per cent, of a greenishyellow essential oil, with a strong odour of pinene, w7hilst the cones harvested at a later period yield on distillation 1’5 to 2 per cent, of a darker oil possessing an odour of lemon. These two oils possess the following characters:

Specific gravity 0,860 0,850

Optical rotation +18° + 35° 30'

They contain about 85 per cent, of D-α-pinene, 5 per cent, of D-limonene, and 2 per cent, of an alcohol. Small amounts of carvone, and of a sesquiterpene, which is probably cypressene, are also present.