JOURNAL OF THE COLLEGE OP SCIENCE, IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY,, 

 TOKYO, JAPAN. 



VOL. XXV., ARTICLE 2. 



The Complex Ferri-malonates. 



By 

 M. Matsui, RigakusU. 



In the course of an experiment it was observed that an 

 acetate, when mixed with a malonate, does not react with ferric 

 chloride so as to form the red ferric acetate. The solution 

 turns green on the addition of ferric chloride, and the green 

 solution thus formed seems to contain no ferric ion, as potassium 

 thiocyanate does not give the red colouration characteristic 

 of ferric thiocyanate. An oxalate produces a similar result. 

 In this latter case it has been proved that the green coloura- 

 tion produced by ferric chloride is due to the formation of 

 the salts of the general composition Fe (OOC . COO M)., which 

 were first prepared by Eammelsbeeg^ and subsequently investi- 

 gated by many others.^ From the analogy of the two acids — 

 malonic and oxalic — it may naturally be concluded that the 

 ferric ion will combine with the malonic acid ion to form some 

 complex ion, as in the case of chromium and cobalt, whose 

 complex malonates have already been much studied.^' The 

 author has isolated a few of the complex ferri-malonates and 



1. Pogg. Ann. 46, 283 (1838); 6«, 27G (1846j. 



2. BUSSY : Jour. pr. Cliem. 16, .^95 (1839). 

 KiSTlAKOWSKi : Zeit, physik. Cheni. 6, 100 (3890;. 

 Rosenhkim: Zeit. anor«. Chenj. 11, 214 (1896). 



3. E. A. Wiknee: Jour. Chcm. Soc, Trans. 85, 1444 (1904), 

 L. Howe: Jour. Am. Chcm. Soc. 25, 445 (1903). 



R. Ç. Lord: Jour. Pliys. Chem. ^i, 173 (1907j, 



