October 27, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



489 



products. Monomoleeular <;ondensation3 were 

 effected with tolidine (also addition product), 

 p-aminoazobenzene, chloroanilines, etc. Dimoleeu- 

 lar condensations were effected with phenol, 

 o-chlorophenol, resorcinol, bromoresoreinol, guaia- 

 col, dimethylaniline, diethylaniline, etc. Some of 

 the products are dyes and indicators. 



The quantitative determination of acetic anliy- 

 Sride: G. 0. Spencee. The proposed method is 

 based upon the action of acetic anhydride and 

 aniline in cold chloroform. An equivalent amount 

 of aeetanilide forms. Slight amounts of alcohol 

 and water as found in U. S. P. chloroform do not 

 interfere. The first attempts were made to sep- 

 arate the aeetanilide by washing the chloroform 

 solution with dilute sulfuric aeid to remove aniline 

 separating the chloroform solution, and evap- 

 orating to dryness in a tared beaker. The gravi- 

 metric method was unsatisfactory. The method 

 adopted was to hydrolyze the residual aeetanilide 

 with 10 per cent, sulfuric acid and titrate the 

 resulting aniline sulfate with half-normal potas- 

 sium bromate-bromide solution. Results satisfac- 

 tory for both high and low concentrations of 

 acetic anhydride. 



The estimation of aliphatic nitrate esters in 

 the presence of certain nitro-aromatic compounds: 



WiLBERT J. HXJFF and ElCHAKD D. liEITCH. 



On the hasis for the physiological activity of 

 certain onium compounds. I. Nitrogen deriva- 

 tives: E. E. Eenshaw and J. C. Ware. The pos- 

 sible bases for the different types of physiological 

 action of the simple and the substituted tetra- 

 alkj'l ammonium compounds are briefly consid- 

 ered. The following new substances are described: 

 lodo methyl acetate, acetyl formoehoUne salts, 

 methosymethyl dimethyl amine, beta-diehloro- 

 arsine-ethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, beta- 

 arsenous oside-ethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride. 

 Improved methods for the preparation of formo- 

 choline and certain other choline derivatives are 

 given. 



Deaminisation of methyl-cis-S-amino-l,212-tri- 

 methyl pentanoate: Glenn S. Skinner. The de- 

 composition of this ester with nitrous acid has 

 been carried out on a large scale. Eeaction prod- 

 ucts are formed in the following proportions: 

 Methyl esters of unsaturated acids, 62 per cent. ; 

 methyl esters of hydroxy acids, 36 per cent. ; me- 

 thyl esters of chloroacids, 2 per cent. The unsat- 

 urated ester upon saponification gave lauronolic 

 acid which was identified by conversion to the 

 bromolactone. Three crj'stalline hydrosy acids 

 have been isolated from the saponification prod- 

 ucts of the various fractions obtained by distilla- 



tion under diminished pressure. One of these 

 acids has a tertiary beta-hydroxyl and is identical 

 with the aeid of M. P. 101-2°, obtained by the 

 decomposition of the methyl ester of the trans- 

 isomeric amino acid. A second hydroxy acid of 

 M. P. 121° has a secondary hydroxyl as shown by 

 oxidation with Beckmann's chromic acid mixture. 

 The third hydroxy acid of M. P. 208-10° also has 

 a secondary hydroxyl and is optically inactive. 

 d-Ciseamphonolie acid could not be isolated. No 

 ether acid was formed whereas the methyl ether 

 d-oiscamphonolic acid constitutes 13 per cent, of 

 the decomposition product of the methyl ester of 

 the trans isomeric amino acid. 



Ammono formaldehydes: Edward C. Franklin. 

 The ammonia analog of formaldehyde, compound 

 of the formula 0H2=N— OH2— ]N'=CH2, is only 

 known in the form of its dimer, hexamethylene 

 tetramine. The methods of formation and the 

 properties of hexamethylenetetramine are in har- 

 mony with the view that it is a polymeric form 

 of an ammono formaldehyde. Hydrocyanic acid, 

 represented by the form HON, is also to be looked 

 upon as an ammono formaldehyde. It undergoes 

 polymerizations and condensations, reacts with 

 acid sulfites and hydroxylamine, and otherwise 

 behaves in a manner closely resembling the well- 

 known behavior of ordinary formaldehyde. 



International numberings of ring complexes: 

 Austin M. Patterson and Gakleton E. Cuhkan. 

 There is at present no uniform system for num- 

 bering parent cyclic compounds. The authors 

 have drawn up a simple set of rules for such num- 

 bering, with the avov/ed purpose of preserving as 

 many as possible of the accepted numberings, 

 while achieving consistency. About three fourths 

 of the numberings used in Eichter's "Lexikon," 

 Meyer and Jacobson's "Lehrbuch," and the 

 Chemical Abstracts indexes conform to the pro- 

 posed rules. The matter has been taken up with 

 the proper committees of foreign chemists with 

 encouraging results. If their cooperation can be 

 secured it is proposed to publish a classified collec- 

 tion of known ring complexes, the number of 

 which now approaches a thousand. 



Sterio hindrance in the migration of acetyl: 

 L. Chas. Eaiford and Chas. M. "Woolfolk. In 

 previous work (/. A. C. S., 41, 2068) one of us 

 has shown that when an ortho acetylaminophenol 

 is benzoylated by the Schotten-Baumann reaction, 

 benzoyl goes to nitrogen, while the acetyl shifts 

 to oxyxgen. In further study of this behavior 

 the present work was done to learn whether this 

 rearrangement would be prevented by the pres- 

 ence of bromine atoms adjacent to the reacting 



