Terpinyl formate possibly occurs in Ceylon cardamom oil, but its presence therein has not yet been definitely established. Artificially, the ester has been obtained by Lafont3) who allowed two parts of lsevogyrate turpentine oil to stand for several weeks with one part of crystallized formic acid. The product thus obtained revealed the following constants:

B. p. 135 to 138° (40 mm.); d0o 0,9986; [a]D- 69,25°.

Dextrogyrate turpentine yields the dextrogyrate ester with otherwise the same constants.

1) Miller, Liebig's Annalen 188 (1877), 202.

2) Liebig's Annalen 189 (1877), 344.

3) Compt. rend. 106 (1888), 140; Bull. Soc. chim. II. 49 (1888), 325.