546 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



{Bull. Set. Pharmacol., 1921, 28, 7) on mercury cyclohexyl, 

 mercury methyl cyclohexyl, and their derivatives ; Binz and 

 Bauer {Zeitsch. angew. Chem., 1921, 34, 261) on the action of 

 mercuric chloride on salvarsan and neosalvarsan ; Stieglitz, 

 Kharasch, and Hanke (/. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1921, 43, 

 1 1 85) on 5:5'-mercuri-bis-3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsinic acid ; 

 Kharasch and Chalkley (/. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1921, 43, 607) 

 on nitrobenzene mercury compounds. 



Dimroth {Ber., 1921, 54, 1504) defends his view that in the 

 mercuration of phenolic ethers the reaction consists in the 

 replacement of a hydrogen atom by the -HgX group against 

 the criticism of Manchot and Bossenecker {Annalen, 1920, 421, 

 331). These authors suggest that the primary product of the 

 action of mercuric acetate is a hydrolysed additive compound ; 

 for example, [OMe.CeHg, Hg.OHJOH, which on treatment with 

 alkali haloids gives the nuclear mercurated compound. Dim- 

 roth comes to the conclusion that Manchot and Bossenecker's 

 compounds were mixtures. In the case of the substance they 

 obtained from anisol, for example, it could be converted by 

 the action of iodine in potassium iodide into a mixture of 

 /)-iodi-anisol and 2:4-di-iodoanisol, and was therefore a mixture 

 of /)-anisylmercuriacetate and 2:4-anisylenedimercuriacetate, 

 which could be actually separated. 



Oxidation products of the Oximes. — Some confusion has 

 previously existed with regard to the oxidation products of 

 benzaldoxime, and a reinvestigation of this problem by Robin 

 {Annates de Chimie, 1921, 16, 75) seems to have cleared up 

 many of the doubtful points. Previous investigators had used 

 amy! nitrite, nitrogen peroxide, or potassium ferricyanide as 

 oxidising agents, but Robin makes use of iodine in the presence 

 of sodium carbonate. Ketoximes resist the action of this 

 reagent, and aldoximes of the type phenylacetaldoxime are 

 decomposed with the formation of the corresponding aldehyde ; 

 an interesting exception, however, is provided by cinnamic 

 aldoxime, which behaves in a similar manner to benzaldoxime, 

 thus bearing out its other resemblances to this compound. 

 Benzaldoxime is oxidised by iodine and sodium carbonate to 

 the peroxide [iv], together with small quantities of dibenzenyl- 

 azoxime [v], benzoylbenzaldoxime [vi], and dibenzenyloxo- 

 azoxime [vii]. 



N 

 CeHg.CHiN.O ^\ 



CeHg . C C . CeHg C.Hg . CH : NO . COC.H^ 



CeHg.CHiN.O \^ 



ON 



[iv] [v] [vi] 



