CHEMISTRY — AGREE, BANCROFT. 1 35 



alkyl halides. When reacting with aldehydes and ketones, sodium 

 benzpinaconate first dissociates into two products, according to the 

 following equation : 



O— Na O — Na O— Na 



I I I 



(C6H,), = C C:-(C6H5), <-> (C6H5), = C.= 4-(C6H5),=-C-Na 



The sodium compound thus formed, called benzophenone disodium, 

 is very reactive toward all the above-named reagents, and by the use 

 of this substance a number of new methods of synthesis have been 

 made possible. For example, by the use of these sodium pinaconates 

 and carbon dioxide we have a new and very advantageous method 

 for the preparation of dialkyl glycollic acids, heretofore prepared 

 only with difficulty. 



The results of another line of investigation on the pinacones will 

 appear under the title ' ' On the pinacone-pinacolin rearrangement 

 (III)." In this article will be described the general methods used 

 in causing the rearrangement of a large number of pinacones, the 

 constitution of the resulting pinacolins, and the mechanism of the 

 reactions involved in these rearrangements. Directly connected with 

 this will be described the work accomplished on the rearrangement of 

 a, a dialkyl dihalogen ethanes, R,,CH CHX,, into tolane derivatives 

 RC = CR, and of the corresponding trichlor compounds, R,,CH CX,, 

 into dialkyl ethylenes. As a further part of this large problem there 

 will be described the work finished on the benzilic acid rearrangement. 



In an article which has the title ' ' On the constitution of phenyl- 

 urazole (III)," is described the result of considerable work on the 

 urazoles. These substances have especially important tautomeric 

 properties, and it is extremely difiicult to decide which one of the 

 five possible formulae should be assigned to phenylurazole. A large 

 number of urazoles were synthesized in order to bring into the field 

 of investigation a number of these compounds with characteristic 

 properties ; but by far the most important part of the work was the 

 acquisition of further data, by the use of physical chemical methods, 

 on the constitution of these compounds. The behavior of these 

 urazoles is now much more easily understood, and it is hoped that 

 not a great deal more work will be required to solve the problem 

 satisfactorily. 



Bancroft, Wilder D., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Grant 



No. 236. Systematic study of alloys. (For previous reports see 



Year Book No. 2, p. xxix, and Year Book No. 3, p. 104.) $1,000. 



Abstract of Report. — Papers on the tensile strength of copper-tin 



alloys and on the constitution of aluminum-zinc alloys have been 



