October 27, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



493 



The oxidation of d-mannose with potassium 

 permanganate: W. L. Evans and E. A. Craw- 

 POBD. The oxidation of d-mannose with alkaline 

 potassium permanganate at 50° proceeds irith the 

 produetion of carbon dioxide, oxalic acid and 

 acetic acid. The relative amounts of these prod- 

 ucts depend on the concentration of alkali used. 

 In neutral solutions only carbon dioxide and 

 acetic acid are formed. At low alkalinities, 

 all three are formed, the carbon dioxide fall- 

 ing off rapidly and the oxalic acid rising 

 rapidly with an increase in alkalinity to 

 about 0.15 N, after w«hich carbon dioxide in- 

 creases slowly and the oxalic acid decreases slowly 

 to 1.0 N alkali. Above this point the relative 

 amounts of carbon dioxide and oxalic acid re- 

 main practically constant. Acetic acid remains 

 almost constant over the whole range. 



Catalytic ammonolysis of b eta-naphthol in the 

 vapor state: A. M. Howald with Alexander 

 LowY. Mixtures of ammonia gas and beta- 

 naphthol vapor were passed over a number of 

 anhydrous oxide catalysts in a Pyrex tube at 

 definite temperatures. A study of the yield of 

 beta-naphthylamine was made as dependent on 

 temperature, catalyst, rate of flow and ratio of 

 reactants. Over a considerable range of condi- 

 tions, yields in excess of 90 per cent, were ob- 

 tained, together with some beta-dinaphthylamine. 

 Curves illustrating a marked effect of tempera- 

 ture on catalyst efficiency are shown. 



Deaminization of the methyl and ethyl esters 

 of dl-alaniAe and aminoisohutyric acid : A. L. 

 Barker and Glenn S. Skinner. The methyl and 

 ethyl esters of aminoisobutyric acid yielded 

 largely the esters of alpha^methyl acrylic acid to- 

 gether with a small amount of hydroxy isobutjTic 

 acid. The methyl ester yielded 3 per cent.' of 

 acid material which contained, according to the 

 Zeisel determination, 70 per cent, of the ether 

 acid. The ethyl ester yielded 0.5 per cent, of 

 acid material which contained 30 per cent, of 

 ether acid. The esters of alanine yielded the un- 

 saturated, chloro and hydroxy esters together with 

 a high boiling nitrogenous residue. The methyl 

 ester gave 15 per cent, of acid material, of which 

 60 per cent, was the ether acid. The ethyl ester 

 gave 2 per cent, of acid material containing 70 

 per cent, of ether acid. 



The recovery and refining of pyridine: Wilbert 

 J. Huff. 



Intermediate complex formation and electronic 

 valence: Ben H. jSTicolet. Ortho and para iodo- 

 amines have their iodine in a mobile state which 

 may be described by calling the iodine "posi- 



tive. ' ' Two nitro groups, when o-p, produce an 

 even more recognizably negative halogen. But, 

 although two nitro groups thus exceed one amino 

 group, 3, 5-dinitroiodobenzene shows no test for 

 positive iodine; and yet, 3, 5-diamino-chloroben- 

 zene, boiled with alcoholic sodium ethylate, shoAvs 

 no trace of negative chlorine. It is concluded 

 that certain conditions favoring formation of 

 necessary ' ' intermediate complexes ' ' are neces- 

 sarj' for reaction, and that such considerations 

 must be taken into account in judging electronic 

 structures. 



The catalytic synthesis of the acetals and their 

 halogenation: Joseph S. Eeichert, James H. 

 Bailey and J. A. Nieuwland. The acetals were 

 prepared by passing acetylene into the corre- 

 sponding alcohols in the presence of concentrated 

 sulfuric acid and a mercury salt as a catalyst. 

 The products of the chlorination and bromination 

 of dimethyl and diethyl acetals were determined. 

 The chlorination of diethyl acetal gave a good 

 yield of chloral. Chloral was also prepared by 

 the successive action of acetylene and chlorine 

 on ethyl alcohol. After the required amount of 

 acetylene had been absorbed, the reaction mix- 

 ture was -chlorinated directly without the separa- 

 tion of the acetal. In this process one mol. of 

 acetylene takes the place of one mol. each of 

 alcohol and chlorine as compared to the ordinary 

 process of making chloral from alcohol. 



New derivatives of 2-'bromo-5-hydroxy-l, 4- 

 naphthoquinone : Alvin S. Wheeler and B. 

 Naiman. The prepara.tion of 2-bronio-juglone as 

 given by Wheeler and Scott was improved upon. 

 Its benzoate was prepared. Its bromine was re- 

 placed by chlorine by means of alcoholic hydro- 

 chloric acid. The benzoate of the chloro com- 

 pound was prepared. A dibromojuglone was 

 made by brominating a hot glacial acetic acid 

 solution of the monobromo compound. The sec- 

 ond bromine entered the quinone ring and none 

 entered the phenol ring in spite of -the fact that 

 juglone readily takes up two in the quinone and 

 one in the phenol ring. Both bromines can be 

 replaced by chlorine by means of alcoholic hy- 

 drochloric acid. Acetates and benzoates were 

 prepared. 



The polymers of pinene. II: G. B. Frank- 

 FORTER and Betty Sullivan. Improved methods 

 have been worked out for the preparation of the 

 compounds already described, namely, colopliene, 

 (Ci(;Hi6)2, and colophonene, (Oj^oHig)5, to- 

 gether with new derivatives of the same. In ad- 

 dition to the above, new compounds have been 

 obtained which complete the series, namely, the 



