Camphor French

The camphor employed is of the synthetic variety supplied by Howe and French, Boston. If an optically active product is desired, active natural camphor may be used. 

True French lavender grows in the Flaute Provence at an altitude of 600 1500 m. The plants are grown from seeds of the wild lavender ( population lavender). Lavender oil is produced in a yield of 10 25kg/ha. It has the following typical composition (%) m-ocimene (4 10), trans-odimene (1.5-6), 1,8-cineole (<1), camphor (<0.5), linalool (25-38), linalyl acetate (25-45), 1-terpinen-4-ol (2-6), and lavandulyl acetate (>2) [574-583a]. 

An understanding of the three-dimensional structures of molecules has played an important part in the development of organic chemistry. The first experiments of importance to this area were reported in 1815 by the French physicist J. B. Biot, who discovered that certain organic compounds, such as turpentine, sugar, camphor, and tartaric acid, were optically active that is, solutions of these compounds rotated the plane of polarisation of plane-polarized light. Of course, the chemists of this period had no idea of what caused a compound to be optically active because atomic theory was just being developed and the concepts of valence and stereochemistry would not be discovered until far in the future. 

Figure 7.3 Lavender. A good-quality French lavender, true lavender Lavandula angustifolia. This shows a high linalyl acetate content (33.29%) and low camphor content (0.21%). This oil would meet the ISO standards. Courtesy of Jenny Warden, Traceability.

There are three principal chemotypes verbenone, 1,8-cineole and cam-phor-borneol. These are examples of variation due to the climate they are grown in and are also called cultivars. The names of the cultivars are not Latinized and appear after the species name, often within quotation marks. For example, Lavandula angustifolia Maillette is a type of lavender named after its originator. For rosemary the cultivars are named after their country of origin. As a consequence of this, the verbenone is also called French, the 1,8-cineole is called Tunisian and the camphor-borneol is called Spanish. A comparison of these in terms of their amounts of main components is shown in Table 7.2. 

CA2 = nitrocellulose 11-12,5% N for blasting gelatin (french) calcium carbonate 326 331 calcium nitrate 48 327 calcium stearate 327 calculation of explosives and gun powders 315 calorimetric bomb 161 camphor camphre 49 163 298 327 Candelilla wax 163... 

FORMOSA CAMPHOR GUM CAMPHOR HUILE de CAMPHRE (FRENCH) JAPAN CAMPHOR KAMPFER (GERMAN) 2-KETO-l,7,7-TRIMETHYLNORCAMPH-ANE LAUREL CAMPHOR xMATRICARIA CAMPHOR... 

Camphene is a solid terpene. The dextro variety d-camphene is found in camphor, ginger and spike oils, and the levo variety, 1-camphene is in citrondla and valerian oil and in French and American turpentine. Bornylene does not occur in nature but has been prepared from the alcohol corresponding to it known as Borneol or Borneo camphor. This, as previously stated, may be prepared from pinene so that Bornylene itself may be made from pinene. Fenchene, also, is not found in nature but is obtained by reduction of fenchone a terpene ketone found in fennel oil and in Thuja oil. 

From the chirality standpoint the next fundamental development occurred in 1874, when the tetrahedral carbon atom was proposed as a basis for molecular chirality by the Dutch and French chemists Jacobus Henricus van t Hoff (1852— 1911) [47, 48] and Joseph Achille LeBel (1847-1930) [49], respectively, independently and almost simultaneously. The discovery of the asymmetric carbon atom (van t Hoff s terminology) finally provided the explanation for the existence of optical isomers and for the chiral nature of the molecules of optically active substances, including many drugs. In his original 1874 pamphlet proposing the tetrahedron [47] van t Hoff listed camphor as a chiral molecule, but the structure he gave (19) was incorrect. 

In the Acidum Aceticum Aromaticum of Belgium and Russia, oil of cloves, lavender, orange, bergamot thyme, and cinnamon ate used while in the French preparation camphor is the chief flavouring irgredient. 

Composition Oil from French population lavender cis- ocimene 5-9% trans-ocimene 3-5% 1,8- cineole <1% camphor. <0.4% (-)- linalool 27-35% (-)-linalyl acetate (see linalool) 30-40% l+)-terpinen-4-ol (see p-menthenols) 3-4% (-)-la-vandulyl acetate (see lavandin [oil]) 3-4%. Bulgarian oil contains mostly 45-50% -)-linalyl acetate. Use L. has many uses in the perfume industry, e.g., in lavender waters, in masculine perfumes or perfumes with masculine notes, etc. in medicine in carminatives and balneotherapeutics. 

In the early nineteenth century, the French physicist Jean Baptiste Biot (1774-1862) studied the behavior of a great many substances in a polarimeter. Some, such as turpentine, lemon oil, solutions of camphor in alcohol, and solutions of cane sugar in water, were optically active. Others, such as water, alcohol, and solutions of salt in water, were optically inactive. Later, many natural products (carbohydrates, proteins, and steroids, to name just a few) were added to the list of optically active compounds. What is it about the structure of molecules that causes some to be optically active and others inactive ... 

Boeemary oil has been examined by several chemists. Bruylants claimed to Inve isolated a terpene from the oil, but as the oil on which he worked had a specific gravity 0 885, it was probably adulterated with tnrpraitine, so that his results cannot be accepted with confidence. GiUwneister and Stephan have, however, isolated pinene from the lowest bdling fractions of the oil, which is probably a mixture of dextro-and i(Mt)0-a-iwene. Campbene has also b n definitely identified as a oonstituent of the oil. These two terpenes have been identified, not only in French, but also in Dalmatian oil. Weber has isolated cineol, and has also prepared dipentene dihydrochloride from a terpene fraction of the important constituents to which the oil owes much of its odour. Traces of esters, probably of bomeol, are also present. 

J. C. Umney gives the following particulars of a sample adulterated with camphor oil, and compares it with pure French oil. Where, how- ever, camphor oil is used as an adulterant, it is usually the light variety, free from safrol, which lowers the specific gravity and greatly diminish the solubility. 

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