287 



VI. " Researches on the Phosphorus-Bases." By A. W. HOF- 

 MANN, Ph.D., F.R.S. &c. Received May 28, 1858. 



In a paper published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, we 

 (M. Cahours and myself) have given a detailed account of the pre- 

 paration of the phosphorus-bases, and also an accurate description of 

 triethylphosphine, the most characteristic and accessible represent- 

 ative of this class of compounds. 



The object of our joint inquiry was chiefly to examine the phos- 

 phorus-bases as a class, and to establish their analogy with the corre- 

 sponding terms of the nitrogen-series. The deportment of the phos- 

 phorus-bodies in their relation to other compounds has as yet been 

 scarcely investigated. For several months I have been engaged in 

 this study, which promises a rich harvest of results. Most of the 

 experiments were made with triethylphosphine, a substance which, 

 in consequence of its convenient position in the system of organic 

 compounds, in consequence of the variety of its attachments, the 

 energy and precision of its action, and, lastly, the well-defined cha- 

 racter of its compounds, will probably become an agent of predilec- 

 tion in the hands of the chemist. 



It is my intention to trace the history of this remarkable body in its 

 several directions ; and for this purpose, in fact, a considerable amount 

 of material has been already accumulated. But since necessarily some 

 time must elapse before such an inquiry, which from the peculiar 

 character of the compound is often obstructed by unusual difficulties, 

 can be completed, I beg leave to present my results in the same 

 measure as the inquiry advances, hoping that at a later period I 

 may be allowed to collect the scattered observations, and to lay them 

 in a more elaborated and digested form before the Society. 



Among the numerous reactions of triethylphosphine, my attention 

 has been chiefly directed to the compounds which this body furnishes 

 when submitted to the action of organic chlorides, bromides, and 

 iodides. 



I. Action of Bibromide of Ethylene upon Triethylphosphine. 



In the anhydrous condition the two bodies act even at the common 

 temperature with considerable power upon each other, a white cry- 



VOL. IX. X 



