(Contribution from the Naval Research Laboratory) 



INVESTIGATION OF THE PHENOLIC FACTION OF CREOSOTE* ' 



b:/ T. .R. Sweeney and C. R. Walter, Jr. 



Abstract 



A study of the tar-acid fraction of A,/.?,/. Grade 1 creosote has been 

 made by selective extraction of the latter iffith aqueous and Claisen 

 alkali. This study indicated the presence of three groups of hydroxylic 

 compounds: one extractable i^iith aqueous alkali, one extractable only 

 with Claisen alkali, and one unextractable with either aqueous or Claisen 

 alkali, Spectrophotometric measurements indicated the presence of un- 

 hindered alkylated phenols in the aqueous alkali-soluble fraction and of 

 unhindered phenols of higher molecular weight in the fraction extractable 

 only with Claisen alkali. The presence of phenylphenols was indicated in 

 both fractions. A material balance of the fractions showed that the quantity 

 of phenols extractable T\rith Claisen alkali vras about twice that extractable 

 with aqueous alkali. Of the total oxygen of the original creosote, some- 

 what more than half was extractable with Claisen alkali. A comparison of 

 the oxygen content of the fractions as determined by difference with the 

 oxygen content calculated from active hydrogen determjjiations indicated 

 that the oxygen could largely be accounted for as hydroxyl. 



4^ This paper appeared in full in NRL Report No. 39^0, 10 pp. & figs. 



February 6, 193'2. 



S - 1 



