CHEMISTRY. 007 



(Iroclilorideiu a solid state outwardly resembles indigo in every respect, 

 and its solution shows the same absorption spectrum as indigo. The 

 internal constitution of this complicated molecule has not been ascer- 

 tained. 



Tlje salts of trimethylenedicarboxylic acid (1:1) with ammonium, sil- 

 ver, copper, barium, and lead, form well-defined crystallized bodies. (J. 

 Ghent. Soc. London, 1885, 80.) 



Syntheses of Derivatives of Urea (by Eobert Behrend). — Bj' the ai^tion 

 of one molecule of acetic ether on one molecule of urea in alcoholic so- 

 lution, the author obtained /S-uramidocrotonic ether in accordance with 

 the equation: 



CeHioOaH- CON2H4 = C7Hi203N,+ H,0. 



This body forms silky needles, melting at 105° to 160° ('y, insoluble in 

 water, and crystallizing easily from alcohol. With alcoholic soda 

 solution the salt C5n7N203]S"a forms with separation of alcohol. This 

 sodium salt, treated with acids (even carbonic acid is active), yields the 

 body CsHgNgOo, for which the author proposes the name methyluracil, a 

 name, however, not intended to indicate constitution. Methyluracil 

 crystallizes from hot water in colorless needles; it is soluble in alcohol aud 

 insoluble in ether. It is decomposed on heating to 270°— 28(P, becom 

 lug blackened and not melting. It dissolves easily in soda and potassa 

 solutions, forming salts identi(;al with those of uramidocrotonic ether. 

 Theoretical considerations, which we cannot here detail, lead the author 

 to adopt provisionally the following constitutional formula for methy- 

 luracil : 



CH3 



NH— C 



/ II 



CO OH 



\ I 



N=rO— OH 



Bromine acts on methyluracil in the cold aud yields brommethyl- 

 uracil CsHsBi^^l-Oo, a body crystallizing in microscopic prisms. Bromiue 

 converts this into a di-brom-comi)ouud. Strong nitric acid converts 

 methyluracil into a nitro-compound, C5H:,N3(J6, which, by loss of car- 

 bonic acid, yields O^HsNaOt nitro uracil. The hitter is reduced by tin 

 and hydrochloric acid to, CtHsNaOj, amido uracil ; and this in turn by 

 oxidation yields oxy-uracil, (J^H^NjOa, an isomer of barbituric acid. 

 Amido-uracil unites with cyanic acid, forming hydroxyxanthin, on which 

 body the author continues his researches. {Lieljigh Annalen ccxxix, 1.) 



Si/nthesis of Cocaine, the New Anaesthetic (by W. Merck). — At tlie chem- 

 ical manufactory of E. Merck, in ])ai mstadt, a quantity of a lye ])roduct 

 was obtainerl in the extraction of cocaine, which was sent for examina- 

 tion to W. Merck, in Kiel. It formed a colorless, crystalliaable body. 



