286 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1130 



turally related to the nitro phenols, and certain 

 of them have been found to be very sensitive indi- 

 cators for the determination of hydrogen ion con- 

 centrations. 



A New Group of Aso Dyestuffs : M. T. Boqeet. 



It has been shown by various investigators, in- 

 cluding the author, that azo dyestuffs may be pre- 

 pared from quinazolines carrying a primary 

 Bz-amino group, by diazotizing this amino group 

 and coupling the resulting diazo bodies with any 

 of the well-known couplers. It has now been 

 found that quinazolines themselves may function 

 as couplers and, by combination with various dia- 

 zotized or tetrazotized bases, a new series of azo 

 dyestuffs has been obtained. 



Methylene Disalicylic Acid and Derivatives: Bob- 



ekt A. Hall. 

 The Addition Compounds of Phenols with Organic 



Acids: James Kendall. 

 Derivatives of l-Isocamphoric Acid — An Unusual 



Formation of a Methyl Ether of a Hydroxy 



Acid: William A. Notes and Glenn S. 



Skinneb. 



The method employed in the preparation of 1- 

 isocamphoric acid was that outlined by Noyes and 

 Knight.6 The methyl ester of isoaminocampho- 

 nonic acid was prepared according to the procedure 

 of Noyes and Littleton? with slight modifications. 



The above ester was decomposed with nitrous 

 acid and the following compounds have been 

 found: (1) The methyl esters of two unsaturated 

 acids, (2) the methyl ester of a hydroxy acid, and 

 (3) the methyl ether of a hydroxy acid. Difficul- 

 ties were encountered in the purification of the 

 products. However, it has been shown without 

 much doubt that one of the unsaturated acids is 

 lauronolic acid. The physical constants of the 

 hydroxy acid obtained by saponifying the ester 

 correspond in the main to those of cis-campho- 

 nolic acid. The keto acid obtained by oxidation 

 of this acid with chromic acid shows a like re- 

 semblance to camphononic acid. 



The formation of the ether acid under the con- 

 ditions of the experiment is, so far as we are 

 aware, unparalleled. Its identity has been estab- 

 lished by analysis and by the determination of the 

 methoxy group according to the method of Zeisel. 

 Its configuration has not been determined. The 

 study of these compounds is being continued. 



Researches on Pyrimidine-Nucleotides. New De- 

 velopments: Treat B. Johnson. 



e /. Am. Ch. Soc, 32, 1669. 

 i Ibid., 35, 75. 



The Action of Ferric Chloride and other Ferrio 



Compounds upon Cellulose: Louis Kahlenbebg. 



It has long been known that ordinary solutions 

 of ferric chloride and other ferric salts have some 

 solvent action upon cellulose. That action has 

 hitherto been found to be but slight. However, a 

 very concentrated solution of ferric chloride, such 

 as is obtained by melting the usual commercial 

 hexahydrate, dissolves cellulose with great ease. 

 In fact, it is the best solvent for cellulose thus far 

 discovered. The action begins at the melting 

 point of tt e hydrate and proceeds very well at 50° 

 centigrade. On heating to somewhat higher tem- 

 peratures the action is very greatly accelerated. 

 At the temperature of the water-bath it is a simple 

 matter to dissolve 5 per cent, of cellulose in the 

 concentrated solution resulting from the melting of 

 the hexahydrate. More cellulose will be taken up 

 until the whole mass becomes an exceedingly stiff 

 syrup. On allowing the material to solidify it 

 may be pulverized, and it will be found that it has 

 to a very large extent lost its hygroscopic proper- 

 ties, which would indicate that a combination be- 

 tween the ferric salt and the cellulose has taken 

 place. Attempts to isolate such a combination 

 have been made and are still in progress. 



When the solution of the cellulose in the con- 

 centrated ferric chloride solution is poured into 

 water there separates out a precipitate of hy- 

 drated cellulose, which fact has been determined 

 by careful analysis. Only a portion of the cellu- 

 lose, however, is thus precipitated. The remainder 

 stays in solution, having been converted into glu- 

 cose. By heating the 5 per cent, solution of cellu- 

 lose in the strong ferric chloride solution for two 

 to three hours on the water-bath, all of the cellu- 

 lose is converted into glucose. The ferric chloride 

 may best be removed from such solution by di- 

 luting, treating with an excess of freshly precipi- 

 tated basic lead carbonate, warming and filtering. 

 Final traces of iron and lead are removed from 

 the filtrate by means of ammonium sulphide. The 

 filtrate then contains the glucose and some am- 

 monium salts, but the latter do not interfere seri- 

 ously with the characterization of the glucose by 

 means of the test with phenyl hydrazine. Ex- 

 cellent crystals of glucosazone of characteristic 

 melting point may be thus obtained from the so- 

 lution. 



Very concentrated ferric bromide and ferric 

 sulphate solutions act similarly, but they are by 

 no means equal to the ferric chloride in their sol- 

 vent action. Not only may simple cellulose, like 

 cotton and filter paper, be dissolved in the very 



