The phenols and their ethers occur frequently in volatile oils. On account of the practical importance which many have acquired, they are prepared on a large scale. Thus thymol finds application on account of its antiseptic properties, anethol is used in pharmacy and in the production of liqueurs, eugenol and safrol are basal substances from which vanillin and helio-tropin are manufactured.

The lower homologues of the series in question occur but rarely in volatile oils.

1) Tiemann and Kriiger mention 168 to 170° as the melting point.

2) Rev. gen. de Chim. 6 (1903), 433; Chem. Zentralbl. 1904, I. 281.

3) Compare Berl. Berichte 28 (1895), 1755.

4) Liebig's Annalen 366 (1909), 119.

5) Merling, Berl. Berichte 41 (1908), 2064.