44 M. Bauer on Oxide ofAmylene. 



It melts in boiling water to a thick oil, which is insoluble in 

 water, and may thus be freed from succinic acid. It is dissolved 

 by boiling alcohol, from which it separates, on cooling, in small 

 crystals. It decomposes by distillation. Analysis gave for it 



the composition € 6 H 8 9 4 =^ 4 „ 4 q 2 h rO 2 . It is neutral suc- 

 cinate of glycol, and is the first well-defined example in which a 

 diatomic radical is substituted for the two atoms of replaceable 

 hydrogen of a diatomic compound. 



Bauer has obtained * oxide of amylene, the compound cor- 

 responding to Wurtz's oxide of ethylene f. The preparation of 

 this body is very troublesome, owing to the difficulty of pre- 

 paring bromide of amylene, and, therefrom, amylglycol. To 

 prepare bromide of amylene, amylene is placed in a long-necked 

 globe, surrounded by a freezing mixture, and a calculated 

 quantity of bromine gradually added. When the action is com- 

 plete, the liquid is shaken with dilute potash, then washed with 

 water, dried, and allowed to stand over chloride of calcium. It 

 boils at 170° to 175°, but decomposes at that temperature. For 

 the preparation of amylglycol, it is sufficient to keep it at 160° 

 for some time. Bauer observed that this liquid contained some 

 hydride of amyle,G 6 H 12 , and some brominated amylene, € 5 H 9 Br, 

 but both these pass off almost entirely below 100°. 



Bauer found, as has been observed by the writer of these 

 notices, that acetate of potass cannot be used advantageously in 

 the preparation of amylglycol. The action of bromide of 

 amylene on acetate of silver is slow, but complete. It is effected 

 by making acetate of silver into a paste with glacial acetic acid, 

 gradually adding the bromide of amylene, and after the first 

 action is over, heating the whole to 100° for a few days. It is 

 then distilled, the portion above 140° being collected separately. 

 When this is treated with potash and distilled, amylglycol is 

 obtained. 



When hydrochloric acid gas is passed into amylglycol, the 

 liquid becomes coloured, and the further action of the gas 

 converts it into a black viscous mass, which decomposes on di- 

 stillation. Aqueous hydrochloric acid acts with great energy on 

 amylglycol at ordinary temperatures, forming several chlori- 

 nated compounds, among which is hydrochloric amylglycol, 



Q6JJ10 1 



>9. Efforts made to separate this body in the pure state 



CI 

 writ fruitless. 



* Bulletin de la Sociiti Chimique, p. 148. 



t Phil. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 427 ; vol. xix. p. 122. 



