ACETO ACETIC ESTER 45 



of the existance of the hydroxyl group in both quinon-hydrodicar- 



CH 2 CH 2 



I I 



boxylic ester and acetoacetic ester thus : COH COH and 



II II 

 C C 



C0 2 C 2 H 5 C0 2 C 2 H 5 



CH 3 CH 2 



COH or COH 



II i 



CH CH 2 



I i 



CO 2 C 2 H 5 CO 2 C 2 H 5 . By the action of bromin on acetoacetic ester 



the mono-, di-, and tri-derivatives only could be formed, therefore it 

 was decided that all compounds seeming to have more than three atoms 

 of bromin are mixtures containing some per-brom- acetoacetic ester, 

 C6 Br IO O 3 , which was formed and which melts at 79-8o. By heating 

 mono-brom-ethyl-acetoacetic ester ethyl-succino-succinic acid is pro- 

 duced, CH 2 CH 2 



I I 



which is CO CO , according to the common formula for 



C(C 2 H 5 )-C(C 2 H 5 ) 

 CO 2 H CO 2 H 



CH- -CH 



acetoacetic ester or COC 2 H 5 COC 2 H 5 , according to the author's 



CH- -CH 



C0 2 H C0 2 H 



formula. Acetoacetic ester is decomposed by being heated to 140 with 

 acetic acid. Acetyl chlorid decomposes acetoacetic ester and some 

 carbacetoacetic ester is formed, which shows the presence of hydroxyl 

 in acetoacetic ester with which the acetyl chlorid formed hydrochloric 

 acid which produced the carbacetoacetic ester. Glycolic, oxalic and 

 succinic acids decompose acetoacetic ester into carbon dioxid and 

 acetone. 



