120 WILEY AND SCHREIBER— SYNTHETIC ALCOHOL. 



[April 20, 



the weight of the passing hydrogen. The chromium ammonium 

 sulfate was made acid by 10 cc. of concentrated sulfuric acid to 

 prevent deposition on the electrodes and was kept at a temperature 

 approximately 40° C. as directed in the method. If the six bottles 

 (containing strong sulfuric acid) intended to absorb the ethylene 

 were kept cold they remained colorless but if heated they became 

 brown, then black, and finally were thick in consistency. On dilut- 

 ing with water and distilling this material foamed and bumped 

 violently so that it was impossible to distil it even on great dilution 

 if the absorption had been carried on for several days. The proc- 

 ess was therefore run only a few days from 1-3. The sulfuric 

 acid was then diluted and distilled. The distillate smelled strongly 

 of sulfurous acid and somewhat of aldehyde and gave the 

 iodoform reaction but no alcohol could be isolated by fractionation. 

 The contents of the three bottles containing cold sulfuric acid (which 

 was brown also) was diluted and distilled. The distillate smelled 

 strongly of aldehyde, gave the iodoform test and formed resins with 

 alkali but alcohol could not be fractionated from it. The process 

 was varied by removing the calcium chloride tubes and also by not 

 heating the sulfuric acid, but alcohol was not obtained. 



Beilstein^ states that ethylene is produced when ammonia reacts 

 on a mixture of zinc dust and copper acetylide. Wood- says that 

 he was unable to make any alcohol when he used this method for 

 producing ethylene. Due to the excitable temper of copper acetylide 

 this method was put off to be tried only as a last resort and as we 

 reached the desired end by another method, was not tried at all. 



The aldehyde method was another possible way of procedure. 

 But here again the literature is decidedly contradictory. Lagermark 

 and Eltekow^ state that acetylene treated with sulfuric acid sp. gr. 

 1.35 (45-46%) and then distilled gives crotonaldehyde. Erdmann 

 and Kothner* state that acetylene passed into a hot solution contain- 

 ing one volume water and two volumes sulfuric acid is converted 

 to crotonaldehyde and that acetylene passed through a mixture of 



^ " Handbuch," 3d ed., p. 128, Vol. i. 

 ''Chem. Nezvs, (78), 1898, p. 308. 

 ^Berichte, 10, 637. 

 * Zeit. Anorg. Chcm., 18, 1898, p. 55. 



