(>f)2 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885. 



Tetra])heu.yl .silicate dissolves easily in absolute alcohol, ether, beu- 

 zene, toluene, xyl'^no, chloroform, carboudisulphide, acetic acid, and 

 formic acid without decomposition, but water precipitates a white gelat- 

 inous mass, aud phenol dissolves out in the supernatant watery liquid. 

 Since, however, the addition of an excess of alcohol or of ether causes 

 the whole to go into solution, it is obvious that the precipitate consists 

 of an acid j>henyl silicate and not of silicic acid itself. With an excess 

 of boiling water tetraphenyl silicate is completely decomposed into plie- 

 nol and silicic acid. 



When tetraphenylsilicate is heated with absolute alcohol, phenol and 

 tetrethyl silicate are formed for the most part, but the latter ester yields 

 in the presence of traces of moisture diethylsilicate, aud probably hex- 

 ethylsilicate. 



In a similar manner, the author prepared silicates of the three iso 

 nieric kresols; the ortho compound distilled at 4350-438°; the meta at 

 4430 to 44CO, and the 'para at 442° to 445°. The author likewise ob- 

 tained mcta and ortho tetraxyleuyle silicate, (C8H9)Si04, as well as the 

 silicates of six similar bodies of the aromatic series. {Ber d. d. chou. 

 Ges., xvni, 1679.) 



Some Derivatives of LccvuUnic Acid (by Ludwig Wolff). — In distilling 

 lievulinic acid a ijortiou is decomposed and an oily substance obtained. 

 This proves to contain two isomeric neutral bodies having the formula 

 CsHgO,, and behaving like lactones; one is a-angelicalactone, boiling at 

 1670, aud the other, /9-augelicalactone, boiling nt 2080-209° C. The 

 former has the constitution — 



CH3— C=CH— CHj 



I i 



o -co 



and the latter is probably — 



CH2=C — CH2 — CHj 



A -io 



{Liebig's Annalen, ccxxix, 249.) 



Action of Phosphorus Pentachloride on Saiicijlic Acid (by liichard 



Anschiitz). — By the action of one equivalent of phosphorus peutachlo 



ride on one equivalent of dry salicylic acid the author obtained a color 



less highly refracting liquid, boiling at 108° under iLii'™ mercury, 



which gave on analysis the composition C7II4OI3PO3. This orthochlo- 



rocarbonylphenyl-orthophosphoricdichloride has the constitution — 



p „ ( (l)COCl 

 '"«**•' ^ (2)OPOCl2 



and proves to be identical with the ''trichlorophosphate de salicyle," 



previously described by Couper. The speciiic gravity of this body is 



].554. Mixed with a small quantity of water this chloride dissolves 



with a rise of tem|)eratuie, and from this solution pure salicylic acid 



crystallizes on cooling. Treated with a large quantity of water salicylic 



