3O ELECTROLYSIS AND ELECTROSYNTHESIS 



water, and the oxidation of the acids by oxygen 

 formed from the acid itself as belonging to the 

 secondary processes. This explanation coincides with 

 the fact that water is not an electrolyte, or at least 

 only a poor one, and acts chiefly as a dissociation 

 medium. The typical reactions in the electrolysis of 

 acetic acid are, for instance, the following: 

 Electrolytic decomposition, 



2CH S .COOK = > - o + Q + K,. 



Characteristic oxidation, 



A too strict adherence to the chemical arrangement 

 is not conducive to clearness. After mentioning the 

 investigations of Kekule, 1 the later experiments of 

 Miller and Hofer, Brown and Walker, etc., will be 

 discussed in this connection. 



Kekul ' investigated the electrolysis of maleic acid 

 and brom-maleic acid. The former gave acetylene, 

 besides a small quantity of succinic and fumaric acid; 

 the latter, on the contrary, gave only hydrobromic 

 acid and carbon monoxide. Like malic acid, fumaric 

 acidj at the beginning of the experiment, gave only 

 pure acetylene, but after the operation had continued 



1 Lieb. Ann., 131, 79. 



