690 REPORT—1899, 
have the composition of a hexosazone C,,H,,N,O,. The pure osazone is very 
soluble in ethylacetate, sparingly soluble in ether, benzene, and boiling water. 
The crystalline form, melting point, and behaviour towards solvents appear defi- 
nitely to establish its identity with 8 acrosazone, which was obtained by Fischer 
and Tafel from the condensation product of ‘ glycerose’ by alkalis. 
When calcium hydroxide is employed in place of caustic soda, an exactly 
similar result is obtained. After removing the calcium from the solution by exact 
precipitation with oxalic acid and evaporating to small bulk at 40° under dimi- 
nished pressure, it was dissolved in alcohol, filtered, and then precipitated with 
ether. The sugar was thus obtained in the form of white flocks which aggregate 
to a pasty solid on standing in a vacuum. 
The properties and configuration of @ acrose have not hitherto been studied, 
owing to the fact that it could not be obtained in quantity unaccompanied by 
other sugars; the authors hope, however, by the present method of preparation to 
obtain the sugar in quantity sufficient for a more complete study. 
The formation of a true hexose, and a substance resembling starch and cellu- 
lose, from glycollic aldehyde, is of especial interest from its bearing on carbo- 
hydrate formation in plants. The remarkable part which a small quantity of ferrous 
iron plays as a carrier of atmospheric oxygen in presence of direct sunlight has already 
been pointed out:! in the absence of any of these three conditions, the oxidation does 
not’ take place. In plant metabolism these conditions coexist; this reaction may 
not only throw light upon the function of small quantities of iron existing in chlo- 
rophyll, but may explain the conversion of tartaric acid, which is so common in 
unripe fruits, to the sugars of the mature fruit. 
8. Some New Silicon Compounds. 
By Professor J. Emerson Reynotps, £2.85. 
Some years ago the author communicated to the Section an account of a new 
silicon compound of the amidic class having the formula : 
Si(NHPh), 
obtained by complete interaction of silicon haloids with excess of aniline. 
This well-defined crystalline substance when cautiously heated changes in two 
stages. Inthe first stage 1 mol. of aniline is evolved, and crystalline silico- 
phenyl-guanidine results. 
NHPh 
Si(NHPh), = NH,Ph + Si = NPh 
\NHPh 
On further heating another aniline molecule is lost, and a di-imide is obtained 
which may also be regarded as diphenyl-silico-cyanimide; or the latter can be at 
once produced from the parent compound : 
Si(NHPh), = Si(NPh), + 2NH,Ph. 
In the production of the di-imide, which is somewhat soluble in benzene, prolonged 
heating leads to molecular rearrangement, and a porcelain-like form of the di-imide 
results which is insoluble in benzene. Two modifications of silico-phenyl-di-imide 
exist, just as in the case of the analogous carbon compounds. 
The readiness with which the tetra-amidic compound loses aniline by heat 
suggested the further experiments which were described to the Section, as it 
appeared that the following interaction with a mustard oil should take place: 
NHPh 
Si(NHPh), + 2EtNCS = Si(NPh), + 208 
\NHEt 
1 Fenton, Brit. Assoc. Report, 1895; Fenton and Jackson, Trans. Chem. Soc. 1899, 1. 
’ 
