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less I find that zincethyl is capable of removing one of the atoms of 

 hydrogen in ammonia and its analogues, and of replacing it by zinc, 

 thus forming a series of bodies which strongly remind us of the 

 amide and nitride of potassium. The general nature of this reaction 

 by which the compounds described below are produced, may be thus 

 expressed : 



When dry ammoniacal gas is passed through an ethereal solution 

 of zincethyl, it is rapidly absorbed, and soon afterwards torrents of a 

 combustible gas free from nitrogen begin to be evolved. After the 

 current has been continued for more than an hour, the absorption 

 altogether ceases, and the ethereal liquid deposits a copious white 

 amorphous precipitate, which yielded on analysis numbers leading 

 to the formula 



fH 

 N 1 H 



[Zn. 



The analysis of the combustible gas proved that 1 vol. consumed 

 3*43 vols. oxygen, and generated 1'95 vol. carbonic acid; numbers 

 almost identical with those yielded by hydride of ethyl, with which 

 the gas is also identical in specific gravity. These results prove that 

 zincethyl acts upon ammoniacal gas in the following manner : 



C 4 H 5 



} =N /g + C 4 H 

 / (Zn H 



The solid product of the reaction, for which I propose the name 

 zincamide, is a white amorphous body insoluble in ether, and instantly 

 decomposed by water and alcohol, with evolution of great heat, and 

 in such a manner as to regenerate ammonia. Thus with water the 

 following equation expresses the reaction : 



Heated with iodide of ethyl in a sealed tube at 145 C., zincamide 

 gives iodide of zinc and iodide of diethylammonium 



11 r n ^ 



H +2 u ff -N(C 4 HjLH.I+ZnI. 



l J 



