82 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE.- -1915. 



a and a'-cMorocamphor give on nitration the pure chloronitrocamphor 

 directly derived from the clilorocamphor employed ; thus a-chloro- 

 camphor gives a-chloro-a'-nitrocamphor, whilst a'-chlorocamphor gives 

 an excellent yield of a'-chloro-a-nitrocamphor. The latter compound 

 had already been fractionated out in small quantities from the mixture 

 of stereoisomers which is obtained by chlorinating a'-nitrocamphor ; 

 but, as a'-chlorocamphor can be prepared and nitrated on a large scale, 

 the nitro- derivative will now be available in much larger quantities. 

 This fact may be of considerable importance, since the reduction of the 

 chloronitro- compound may give the long-sought but still unknown 

 a-nitrocamphor. 



Fourth, a'-chlorocamphor appears to lose hydrogen chloride much 

 more readily than the a- compound. If this decomposition should 

 involve the removal of a hydrogen atom from the nucleus, an entirely 

 new chapter in the chemistry of camphor may be begun. 



In view of the large amount of work that is waiting to be done in this 

 and in other directions, the Committee asks to be reappointed with a 

 grant sufficient to defray the cost of extending the experiments to the 

 (i and ir derivatives of camphor. 



The Transformation of Aromatic Nitroa^nines and Allied Sub- 

 stances and its Relation to Substitution in Benzene Deriva- 

 tives. — Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor 

 F. S. Kipping (Chairman), Professor K. J. P. Orton (Secre- 

 tary), Dr. S. EuHEMANN, and Dr. J. T. Hewitt. 



Very little work has been possible in the circumstances throughout 

 the year owing to preoccupation with other more pressing duties, and 

 to the departure for military and othei' like services of the senior 

 students, who would have carried out the experimental part of the 

 investigation. The work, of which a short report follows, is therefore 

 to be regarded as purely of a preliminary character. 



The Relation of the Velocity of Chlorination of Aromatic Compounds 

 to Constitution. 



(With D. C. Jones.) 



The measurement of the velocity of chlorination of a number of 

 acylanilides, acylchloroanilides, and acyltoluidides and acylxylidides ^ 

 showed that the velocity of the reaction was highly sensitive to : 



(a) the nature of the acyl gi'oup ; 



(b) the nature of a substituting gi'oup, chlorine or alky], present in the 



substance ; 



(c) the position of the substituting group. 



It has been our intention to extend these observations by studying 

 the influence of substituents other than chlorine and alkyl, for example, 

 bromine and the nitro- group ; and to compare with the amino- and the 

 acylamino- group, -NHAc, such other ortho-para- directing groups 

 as hydroxyl, alkoxy-, and alkyl. 



' Orton and King, Eeports, 1911 ; Trans. Chem. Soc. 1911, 99, 1377. 



