114 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



any so-called "practical use." Improved methods of prepa- 

 ration, however, may bring it within reach of the physio- 

 logical chemist or the manufacturer, so that this substance 

 or some of its immediate derivatives may, 'ere long, play 

 an important part in the economy of men. 



Phenyl ether was discovered by List and Limpricht' in 

 1854, while studying the products of the destructive distil- 

 lation of copper benzoate. They did not identify it a& 

 phenyl ether, but assigned to it the empyrical formula 

 C'Ho 0, derived from the results of their analysis. Why 

 this formula was assigned to it is difficult to see, for their 

 analyses correspond much better with the formula now 

 assigned to phenyl ether. Acting on the suggestion of 

 Gearhardt, Limpricht' later assigned the formula C.2H10O 

 and called the substance the ether of carbolic acid. The 

 compound was next studied by Rudolph Fittig'' and later 

 Kekule' in his Lehrbuch suggested, on the ground of Fit- 

 tig's work, that it was monohydroxy diphenyl. 



C. Lesimple* prepared a compound w^iich he supposed 

 to be phenyl ether, by distilling phenyl phosphate with 

 lime, but Hoffmeister,' afterwards show^ed that it was 

 diphenylene oxide. 



C. Clem' attempted, without success, to prepare phenyl 

 ether b}^ heating potassium phenolate and potassium ben- 

 zoate. 



Since the discovery of phenyl ether in 1854, perhaps 

 thirty different German, English, and American chemists 

 have given the subject more or less attention. The 

 French have not yet entered the field. 



Aside from the above method of List and Limpricht for 

 preparing phenyl ether, six other direct methods have 

 been employed, as follows: 



Hoffmeister' obtained a small yield by means of the 

 diazo reaction with phenol, aniline, and sulphuric acid. 



1 Annalen der Chemie XC, 190. 



- Lehrbuch, page 7)3, and Annalen der Chemie CXXV, 328. 



= Annalen der Chemie, CXXV, 328. 



* Annalen der chemie, CXXXVIII, 27(5. 



Berichte, III, 747. 



•Jr. fuerPract. Chem.. 1870, 147. 



' Annalen der Chemie. CLl, 194, and Berichte III, 747. 



