[ralrai]

Hi. When I was a teenager I was an enthusiat of "alchemy" and, some days ago, i just remembered a topic that remains a mistery for me today.
It's about some kind of synthesis called "volatilization of salt of tartar". The process is about mixing rosemary essential oil with hot, calcinated potash (potassium carbonate extracted from wood ash) and distilling it. Eventually, a solid condensate form in the glass of the retort/distillation aparatus. The website with the procedures+images is

https://www.alchemywebsite.com/steve_kalec.html

Since rosemary oil is rich in alpha-pinene, my first tought was that the solid product was camphene and the potash acted like a catalyst for the isomerization reaction. Any of you guys have clues about this?

[AWK]

Rosemary oil does not have a constant composition. In addition, at least about 30 components have been identified therein. The rearrangement of α-pinene requires acid catalysis. Without knowing the composition of a specific oil, it is difficult to predict anything. Essential oils are usually quite thermally stable. Some of their components can be distilled in the presence of air under normal pressure. I would rather expect oxidation products of the less stable components of the essential oil.
But without good analytical capabilities, it's a waste of time.