196 On the Action of Chloride of Acetyle on Aldehyde. 



II. 0'2658 grm. of liquid gave 0'3796 grin, carbonic acid and 

 0-1382 water. 



III. 0-2699 grm . of liquid gave 0-3054 grm. chloride of silver. 

 These numbers lead to the formula C^ IF 0^ CI, as will be 



seen from the following per-centage Table : — 



Experiment. 



III. 



28-00 



100-00 



There is then in this case a simple coalescing of the two mo- 

 lecules, without the separation of hydrochloric acid. This liquid 

 is heavier than water, which decomposes it with extreme slow- 

 ness when cold, but rapidly when hot. It dissolves readily in 

 dilute potash, — chloride of potassium and acetate of potash being 

 formed, and aldehyde regenerated, which is converted into a 

 resin by the action of the alkali when the latter is in excess. If, 

 however, the liquid be cautiously neutralized, almost all the alde- 

 hyde is given off as vapou-, a mere trace being resiniiied. In 

 order to be certain of the formation of acetate of potash in this 

 reaction, I evaporated the solution iu potash to dryness on a 

 water-bath, and treated the dry mass with absolute alcohol, 

 which dissolved the acetate, leaving the chloride undissolved. 

 The acetate was then converted into the silver-salt and analysed. 



The following numbers were obtained : — 



0-2087 grm. of silver-salt gave 0-1346 grm. silver. 



Per-centage composition : — 



Theoi-y. Experiment. 



Silver . . . 64-67 64-50 



Moist oxide of silver reacts on this liquid in the same manner, 

 chloride and acetate of silver being formed. 



The body which I have just described has already been dis- 

 covered by M. Wurtz amongst the products of the action of 

 chlorine on aldehyde. He supposed that its formation was due 

 to the coalescing of two molecules of aldehyde, and to the sub- 

 sequent action of the chlorine on this polymeric modification. 

 The foregoing, however, pi-oves that the body in question is 

 simply formed by the direct combination of the chloride of ace- 

 tyle (the chief product of the action of chlorine on aldehyde) 

 with some unaltered aldehyde. 



