176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Experimental Part. 



Action of Sadie Methylate on Picrylchloride. 



When a concentrated solution of picrylchloride in methyl alcohol was 

 mixed with an excess of sodic methylate also dissolved in methyl alcohol, 

 a mass of beautiful scarlet needles was formed immediately ; or, if the 

 solution was dilute, these scarlet needles appeared only upon standing. 

 We first prepared the substance for analysis only by washing with water, 

 in which it is but slightly soluble, and drying on a porous plate. The 

 analysis of this preparation is numbered I. A second portion after being 

 washed with water was recrystallized from methyl alcohol, which par- 

 tially decomposed it, as white plates of trinitranisol could be distinguished 

 mixed with the scarlet prisms of the new body. This impurity was 

 removed by washing with benzol, in which the scarlet compound is 

 nearly insoluble, but the trinitranisol very soluble. This preparation 

 dried in vacuo was analyzed with the result numbered II. 



The scarlet compound formed according to Clemm,* when a solution 

 of picrylchloride in methyl alcohol was treated with sodic liydrate, was 

 also prepared, and gave on analysis the result numbered III., which 

 proves that it is identical with the product obtained by the action of 

 sodic methylate. 



I. 0.5280 gram of the substance gave, after decomposition with sul- 

 phuric acid, 0.1168 gram of sodic sulphate. 



II. 0.3518 gram of the substance gave 0.0857 gram of sodic sulphate. 



III. 0. 1680 gram of the substance gave 0.0410 gram of sodic sulphate. 



Sodium 



The formula C,;HNa(N02)30CH3 requires 8.68 per cent of sodium. 



These results indicate that the substance is formed by the addition of 

 one molecule of sodic methylate to one molecule of trinitranisol. The 

 sodic chloride, which must have been the other product of the reac- 

 tion, was removed by washing with water in the preparation of the 

 substance. 



As, according to the theory proposed by Victor Meyer, this substance 

 must contain a molecule of methyl alcohol of crystallization, 



(CeHNa(NO,)30CH3CH30H), 

 * Journ. Prakt. Cliem., [2], I. 156. 



