unites directly with chloride of mercury and with nitrate of silver, to form compounds which decompose on recrystallization. By treating the base with iodide of æthyle in the usual manner a substitution base is obtained, which is oleaginous, soluble in alcohol, difficultly so in water, and dissolves oxide of silver. It forms with bichloride of platinum a crystalline double salt, having the formula C40 H20 N Cl, Pt Cl2. The formula of the H14 base is C36 C4 Hs N, and is derived from triphenylamine by the substitution of æthyle for hydrogen. Triphenylamine must be considered as an ammonia in which 3 equivs. of hydrogen are C12 H5 replaced by 3 equivs. of phenyle, C12 H5, C12 H5N: it belongs to the class of nitrile bases, and the substitution base is hence: A new acid, terebenthilic acid, has been described by M. Personne*. It is obtained by passing the vapour of terpine (the hydrate of oil of turpentine), C20 H16, 4HO, over soda-lime heated to about 400 degrees, and treating the product with hydrochloric acid. The acid, when pure, is a white solid, which melts at 190°, and volatilizes at 250° in small plates. It crystallizes from hot water in the form of a white powder composed of small crystalline needles: it forms, with silver and lime, crystalline salts. Its composition is C16 H10 04, and it stands thus between caprylic acid, C16 H16 04, and toluylic acid, C16 H8 04. It forms an aromatic æther having a pine-apple flavour. Its production is attended with the evolution of marsh gas and hydrogen, and may be thus expressed :— : C20 H20 04 = C16 H10 04 + CH2+H2. By the action of caustic alkali on castor oil, or on ricinoleic acid, an oily liquid is produced which was generally admitted to be caprylic alcohol, C16 H18 O2, until Limpricht proved that caprylic aldehyde, C16 H16 O2, was formed under these circumstances. It has now been shown by Bouis* that the product varies with the circumstances under which it is produced. If ricinoleic acid be heated rapidly with excess of caustic potash so that the alkali melts, hydrogen is evolved, caprylic alcohol nearly * Comptes Rendus, September 8, 1856. † Annales de Chimie et de Physique, September 1856. pure is produced, and the residue contains sebate of potash. Thus C86 H34 06+2KO HO=C20 H16 06, 2KO+C16 H18 O2+2H. Caprylic alcohol. But if the operation be effected at a low temperature, there is produced a mixture of caprylic aldehyde and caprylic acid; and the residue contains a new acid, differing from sebacic acid. This acid is also produced along with caprylic aldehyde in the dry distillation of the salts of ricinoleic acid, C20 H18 04. C36 H34 06 = C16 H16 02 + Ricinoleic acid. Caprylic aldehyde. Caprylic aldehyde is a colourless, very refrangible body, which is lighter than water, and boils at 171 degrees. It reduces ammoniacal nitrate of silver, when heated absorbs oxygen with great rapidity, and combines with alkaline bisulphites. Treated with nitric acid it yields the same products as caprylic alcohol, and is converted by potash into a brown viscous matter which is not volatile. Goessmann and Scheven found in the earth-nut oil a new member of the oleic acid series, to which they gave the name hypogæic acid. This has now been subjected to a further investigation by Goessmann and Caldwell, who have confirmed its parallelism with oleic acid. It yields the same products of destructive distillation as oleic acid, and like that acid is converted by the action of nitrous acid into a new acid isomeric with itself. This they name gaïdic acid. When pure it is colourless, inodorous and crystalline; melts at 38° C., solidifies to a radiating crystalline mass, and volatilizes unchanged at higher temperatures. Unlike the acid from which it is derived, it is not acted upon by the atmosphere at ordinary temperatures. The æther of the new acid crystallizes from alcohol at low temperatures in a lamellar crystalline mass, which, unlike the æther of hypogæic acid, is volatile without decomposition. Gericket has investigated sulphobenzole, the product obtained by Mitscherlich from the action of anhydrous sulphuric acid on benzole. It was regarded as a compound of the carbo-hydrogen phenyle, C12 H5, with sulphurous acid = (C12 H5) SO2. Gericke considers that its formula must be doubled, and must be thus C12 H5 SO2 written, J C12 H5 S2 041 C12 H5 C12 H5 SO2 Gerhardt held that it had the formula на "}, which would be hydrogen }, H *Liebig's Annalen, September 1856. + Ibid. June and November 1856. Phil. Mag. S. 4. Vol. 13. No. 85. March 1857, in which one equivalent of H is replaced by sulphophenyle and the other by phenyle; and if so, it ought to split up by the action of potash into sulphophenylate of potash and benzole, C12 H5 S2 047 +KO HO=C12 H5 S2 05, KO+C12 H6; but it undergoes not the slightest change on being heated with concentrated potash. But by the action of sulphuric acid it is converted into sulphophenylic acid, C24 H10 S2O4+S2 H2 08=2(C12 H6 S2 O6). Sulphobenzole. Sulphophenylic acid. When sulphobenzole is heated some time with fuming nitric acid, water precipitates from the solution a yellow product, which by treatment with hot alcohol furnishes nitro- and binitrosulphobenzole. C12 H (NO1) SO2 }, is readily soluble in Nitrosulphobenzole, C12 H5 hot alcohol, from which it separates on cooling as a heavy, yellow, soft mass. It can be obtained in small indistinct crystals. By the action of sulphide of ammonium it is converted into an C12 H4 (NH2) SO2 amidosulphobenzole, C12 H5 SO2}, which consists of microscopic rectangular prisms soluble in hot water and alcohol. This forms with hydrochloric acid a compound, crystallizing in large rectangular prisms, which unites with bichloride of platinum to form a compound, C19 H4 (NO4) SOY Binitrosulphobenzole, C12 H4 (NO4) SO2, is best obtained by acting on sulphobenzole with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids. Recrystallized from alcohol, it presents the form of silky, microscopic, rhombic plates, which melt at 164°, and sublime unchanged at 320°. By the action of sulphide of ammonium thisisconverted into binamidosulphobenzole, C12 H (NH2) SO2), C12H4(NH2) SO° a base crystallizing from alcohol in small rectangular prisms. With hydrochloric acid it forms a crystalline compound, C12 H4 (NH2) SO2 ̄ with which bichloride of platinum unites to form a compound, C12 H4 (NH2) SOo C12 H4 (NH2) SO22HCl, Pt Cl2. These bases give, when acted on by iodide of æthyle, uncrystallizable bodies. H4 CI By the action of chlorine on sulphobenzole a neutral compound is obtained, bichloride of sulphobenzole, C12 HCI SO2HCl, an oily liquid heavier than water, soluble in alcohol and æther. It distils at 150°, but when rapidly heated decomposes into biC12 H4 CI SO27 }: chlorinated sulphobenzole, C13 H4 CI SO3}, a body crystallizing from alcohol in microscopic acicular crystals. Gericke prepared the lead, copper, barium, zinc, calcium, and sodium salts of sulphophenylic acid, which is obtained as a collateral product in the preparation of sulphobenzole. They are all soluble and crystalline. By acting upon the sulphophenylate of silver with iodide of æthyle, he obtained sulphophenylic æther. By the action of nascent hydrogen on bisulphide of carbon, M. Girard* has obtained a new compound. To pure bisulphide of carbon a considerable quantity of granulated zinc is added, and then dilute hydrochloric acid. An action commences immediately, which must not be allowed to become too violent; sulphuretted hydrogen and the vapour of bisulphide of carbon are given off. At the expiration of a week the action is complete; the mixture is distilled, and there is left a milky residue on which swims an oil not volatile at 100 degrees. By treating this oil with æther, a substance crystallizing in magnificent needles is obtained. It gave on analysis numbers corresponding to the formula CHS, and its formation may be thus expressed :— nCS2+2nH=nCHS+2nHS. This substance is soluble in many media; it volatilizes at 150° C. It is neutral. The strong mineral alkalies exercise no characteristic action, ammonia is inert. It is decomposed by strong nitric and sulphuric acids. It forms with nitrate of silver a compound crystallizing in large white crystals; and with bichloride of platinum and chloride of mercury it also forms compounds. For the preparation of the chlorides and bromides of the organic acids, M. Bechamp† avails himself of the action of the terchloride, or terbromide of phosphorus, on the corresponding monohydrated acid. The terchloride acts upon a monohydrated acid as it would upon a mixture of anhydrous acid and water, and upon the æther of the acid in a corresponding manner. If R is the oxygenized radical of a monobasic anhydrous acid, * Comptes Rendus, August 1856. † Ibid. February 4, 1856, and if RO is the general formula of the corresponding anhydrous organic acid, the reaction will be thus expressed : 2RO HO+PC13=C1H+PO3, HO+2RC1. The preparation by this process, using quantities required by equation, is effected with as much ease as the preparation of nitric acid, and the product obtained corresponds very closely with the theoretical requirements. M. Boullet has found that several nitro-acids analogous with nitrobenzoic acid are reduced to the corresponding amido-acids by the action of acetate of iron; and that acetate of iron acts upon the æthers of the nitro-acids and produces the æthers of the corresponding amido-acids. M. Piria† has given a general method for the transformation of some acids into the corresponding aldehydes. If the composition of benzoate and of formiate of lime be represented by the formulas it is evident that it is sufficient that the group C2 O (C12 H5) exchange 1 equiv. of oxygen for 1 equiv. of hydrogen of the group C2O3(H), in order that the first be transformed into hydride of benzoyle, C2 O2 (C12 H5)H, and the second into carbonic acid. And, in fact, by distilling together an intimate mixture of formiate and benzoate of lime, this decomposition takes place and oil of bitter almonds is produced. Piria has also produced in this way the hydrides of cinnamyle and of anisyle from their corresponding acids. This method is the same as that proposed by Limpricht‡. It appears that it was communicated to Liebig's Annalen in 1855, but that by an oversight its publication was delayed. By the dry distillation of camphorate of lime, M. Lies Bodart obtained in 1849, in conjunction with Gerhardt, an oil to which the name phorone was given. It is camphoric acid, minus carbonic acid, Co H14O, 2CaO=C18 H14O +2(CaO CO). By distilling grape-sugar with lime, M. Bodart § has found that this substance is produced along with Fremy's metacetone, C6H5O. *Comptes Rendus, August 18, 1856. + Il Nuovo Cimento, vol. iii. p. 126. Liebig's Annalen, October 1856. Phil. Mag. July 1856, p. 57. Comptes Rendus, August 18, 1856. |