Chemical examination of the fatty oil from the seeds of Mallotus philippinensis Muel.-Arg.

Abstract

1. Kamala oil is one of the lesser known indigenous oils of forest origin and perhaps the most rapid drying oil, even faster than tung oil, among those so far known to science. 2. In contact with air and at laboratory temperature it rapidly polymerises to a hard mass insoluble in organic solvents. 3. It consists of the glycerides of isomeric-eleostearic, (x) keto polyethenoid C₁₈, oleic, linoleic, stearic and lower saturated acids. 4. The rapid drying nature of the oil is due to the presence of the glycerides of (x) keto polyethenoid C₁₈ and isomeric-eleostearic acids. 5. The unsaponifiable matter of the fatty oil has yielded the common phytosterol, sitosterol, m.p. 131-32°C. (acetate, m.p. 129-30°C.).