RECENT WORK ON THE MORPHINE GROUP 287 

 On this assumption, morphenol may be represented as follows : 



or 



since an alternative diphenyleneoxide formula — 



/C 6 H»\ 



< . 



\c.h/ 



'CH 



II 



is not considered to be compatible with the ease with which 

 morphol can be reduced to phenanthrene, nor yet with the 

 difficulty experienced in oxidising it to a quinone. Furthermore, 

 the formula in which the ring-oxygen of morphenol serves as 

 a connecting link between one of the " bridge " carbon atoms 

 and the carbon atom in the para position with respect to that 

 attached to the " bridge " carbon atom 



rf* 5 ^ 



must be dismissed as impossible, for, with such a constitution, 

 morphenol would stand in near relationship to the aromatic 

 oxides described by Zincke and Auwers, 1 which differ from 

 it in being highly reactive. 



Vongerichten 2 has recently shown that the ring-oxygen of 

 morphenol cannot be attached to either of the " bridge " carbon atoms, 



1 Annalen, 301, 203 ; 303, 76. 



Ber. 33, 1 85 1. 



