62 



MESSRS. E. EEANKLAND AND B. E. DUPPA'S 



Ethylic acetone carbonate, boiled with excess of baryta-water or alcoholic potash, 

 ought to yield, in accordance with the homologous reactions, alcohol, a carbonate of the 

 base, and acetone, according to the following equation : — 



Ha. 

 0_ 



Ik 



o 



OK ^^ 



"V~ 



Ethylic acetone 

 carbonate. 



Potassium 

 carbonate. 



Alcohol. 



Acetone. 



The decomposition of the carboketonic ethers by caustic alkalies is readily traced by 

 the use of the general formulae above given; besides alcohol, a carbonate of the alkaline 

 metal is produced, whilst a ketone containing three atoms less of carbon than the carbo- 

 ketonic ether is formed. 



0_ 

 C- H, 



Q^ 



o 

 IOC2H, 



"' + 2KH0=C^"'^ 



Carboketonic 

 ether. 



Ketone. 



Potassium 

 carbonate. 



Alcoho 1. 



A closer inspection of this formula for ketones shows that it does not essentially differ 

 from that usually adopted for these bodies, since it can readily be reduced to the radical 

 type, thus : 



o 



C3"" 



p XT rn 



H 



CH3 

 O 



C„ H, 



""ICMeO 



H 



The composition and mode of formation of the ketones described above, together 

 with the general methods of forming these bodies previously known, indicate the exist- 

 ence of many isomeric compounds belonging to this family alone, without taking into 

 consideration the metameric bodies in the aldehyde and allyl-alcohol series. The for- 

 mula of acetone, f PTT 



IC Me O, 



does not allow the conception of any isomer. The formula of the next higher ketone 

 is equally incapable of isomeric modification, for the formulae 



rcH3 



ICEtO 



CMeHg 

 CMeO 



