Abstract
THE importance of the study of the naturally occurring acidic constituents of petroleum, both in the recognition of the individual hydrocarbons from which they are derived and in their application in the domains of medicine and technology, has been stressed by v. Braun1. Although, however, the naphthenic acids have been recognized for more than sixty years, owing to the fact that many isomers are possible, it is only comparatively recently that pure individuals have been isolated, many, which had previously been reported as pure, having been proved to be mixtures, v. Braun, Mannes and Reuter2 are usually considered to have been the first to isolate a homogeneous naphthenic acid by a rather indirect route. Degradation of mixtures of acids of the general formula C10H18O2 from different sources gave the same 3.3.4-trimethylcyclopentanone, which was reconverted to 3.3.4-trimethylcyclopentylacetic acid. All the higher acids Cn H2n- O2 out of which the above ketone could be obtained by degrading one or more times, therefore correspond to the formula (I) (v. Braun et alia, loc. cit.)
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References
Science of Petroleum, 2, 1014 (Oxford).
Ber., 66B, 1499 (1933).
Ber., 71B, 2056 (1938).
J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 61, 2448 (1939).
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KENNEDY, T. A Solid Naphthenic Acid from Iranian Petroleum. Nature 144, 832 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144832a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144832a0
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