Packaging and storage
Preserve in well-filled, tight containers, and avoid exposure to excessive heat.
Labeling
The label states the Latin binomial name and, following the official name, the part of the plant source from which the article was derived.
Solubility in 70 percent alcohol
One volume dissolves in 2 volumes of 70 percent alcohol.
Angular rotation 781A
It is optically inactive or slightly levorotatory; and the angular rotation is not greater than 1.5
.
Limit of phenol
Shake 1 mL of Oil with 20 mL of hot water: the water shows not more than a scarcely perceptible acid reaction with blue litmus paper. Cool the mixture, pass the water layer through a wetted filter, and treat the clear filtrate with 1 drop of
ferric chloride TS: the mixture exhibits only a transient, grayish green color, but not a blue or violet color.
Assay
Pipet 10 mL of Oil into a suitable cassia flask, the neck of which is graduated from 0 mL to 6 mL at intervals of 0.1 mL. Add 75 mL of 1 N potassium hydroxide, shake the mixture for 5 minutes, and heat for 10 minutes in boiling water, shaking the flask at least 3 times during the heating. Remove the flask from the bath, and cool to room temperature. When the liquids have separated completely, add sufficient 1 N potassium hydroxide to raise the lower level of the oily layer within the graduated portion of the neck. After standing for 18 hours, the volume of the oily layer does not exceed 1.5 mL, indicating the presence in the Oil of not less than 85.0%, by volume, of total phenolic substances.