CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY 

 OF THE CASE SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCE. 



XXVL — ON THE BUTANES AND OCTANES IN 

 AMERICAN PETROLEUM* 



By Charles F. Mabkuy and Edward J. Hudson. 



Presented October 14, 1896. 



As one of us (C. F. M.) has shown f- the form of the butanes and oc- 

 tanes in American petroleum is not so well understood as other constituents 

 of the series C„H2n + 2' Concerning the butanes, except that an analysis 

 of A "•as condensed at 0° by Ronalds gave the composition required for 

 butane, very little has been published beyond the fact that distillates have 

 been collected at 0° and at 8°-9°. It, therefore, seemed advisable to 

 devote some time to the separation of the butanes for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining with greater precision what hydrocarbons with these boiling points 

 are actually contained in petroleum. 



The Butanes. 



The early investigations of Pelouze and Cahours | indicated the pres- 

 ence of butane in their most volatile distillates. A portion collected 

 between 5° and 10° gave with chlorine a '^chlorbutyl," boiling point 

 6o°-70°. In a higher distillate, whose boiling point was not given, amyl 

 hydride was suspected by the formation of a " chloramyl " boiling at 

 9&°-103°, but this hydrocarbon was not further identified. In the first 

 analysis of the gas from Pennsylvania petroleum, Ronalds § condensed an 

 oil at 0°-l°, specific gravity 0.6000 at 0°, that gave the composition 



* For efficient aid in the work of this paper, I should acknowledge my ohliga- 

 tions to Mr. W. H. Wliitfield, who selected portions of the work on the butanes as 

 the subject of a thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Science, and to my assistants, 

 Messrs. C. A. Soch and E. Davidson. — C. F. M. 



+ Proc. Amer. Acad., XXXI. 23. 



t Compt. Rend. 1862, p. 1211. 



§ London Chem. Soc, 1865, p. 54. 



