204 



Extraction of simihr known amounts of amyl alcohol at 17.5 C., using 100 re of a 50 

 per cent by volume solution of ethyl alcohol. 



For the estimation of ethyl alcohol by alkaline permanganate a solution of fusel- 

 free alcohol containing 24.75 grams per 100 cc as determined by the pycnometer was 

 diluted with water one hundred times. Portions of this solution were then diluted 

 to 50 cc and estimated by the same method as used in the case of the other alcohols. 

 The oxidation was quite rapid, and the time allowed was ten minutes. Using the 

 factor 0.3636 for oxidation to acetic acid the following results were obtained: 



Estimation of ethyl alcohol by alkaline permanganate. 



Similar trials were made with methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol was purified by 

 drying with calcium chlorid, heating with anhydrous oxalic acid to convert into 

 dimethyl oxalate, the crystals drained and pressed dry, and finally decomposed with 

 slight excess of dilute alkali and distilled. The specific gravity of the distillate was 

 taken and the methyl alcohol present obtained from Dittmar's table. In the first series 

 of experiments the oxidation was allowed twenty minutes at the temperature of the 

 ice bath. Considering formic acid to be the end product of the oxidation, the factor 

 would be 0.253; if the formic acid were completely oxidized to carbon dioxid the factor 

 would be 0.1686. 



Estimation of methyl alcohol by alkaline permanganate at C. 



