Abstract
THE double number (Nos. 5 and 6) of the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie commences with a paper by Carl Grunzweig, on “Butyric acid from different sources.” He prepared the perfectly pure normal and isobutyric acids and their salts, and examined their properties very carefully; he then examined butyric acid as obtained from butter, which he finds to be normal butyric acid, and the acid from the oxidation of conine and that from the carob, or St. John's bread, are also the normal acid.—Von Schneider contributes a long paper upon pollen and wax formation; which is followed by a second contribution by Kachler on the compounds of the camphor group. He has accurately examined into the properties of campholic acid and some of its salts, and also into the action of bromine and phosphoric chloride on that body. The action of bromine is to oxidize the acid, forming oxycamphoric anhydride, hydrobromic acid being produced in quantity. He has also examined cam-phinic acid.—Weselsky follows, with an important paper on the azocompounds of resorcin, in the theoretical parts of which some most elaborate graphic formulae are brought to life.—Liebermann and Chojnacki have again examined rufiopin, which was first obtained by Anderson from opianic acid. The authors' researches show that it belongs to the anthracene group, as by the action of zinc powder at a high temperature this hydrocarbon can be obr tained from it. It therefore belongs to the same series to which the colouring matters alizarin and purpurin belong, being the next higher body in the series to purpurin.—Dittmar and Kekulé contribute a paper on an aromatic glycollic acid. The starting point for the production of this body is toluylic acid, which is acted on by bromine, and the resulting bromo-compound again acted on by barytic hydrate. The oxymethylphenylformic acid obtained forms small plates or needles as crystallised from water. —Amato has endeavoured to obtain dicyanacetic acid by treating dichloracetic ether with potassic cyanide. He has not succeeded in obtaining the acid, but seems to have produced a body which has resulted from the decomposition of dicyanacetic ether with two molecules of water.—This number contains 18 original papers, several of which, however, are translations from foreign journals.
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Scientific Serials . Nature 6, 487 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/006487a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/006487a0