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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 687 



merism, i. e., in the study of organic com- 

 pounds of the same composition but of 

 different identity. Then it was shown how 

 the mode of action of organic compounds 

 may be analyzed by physico-chemical meth- 

 ods, the active component being found by 

 properly planned determinations of veloci- 

 ties of action or of electromotive forces. 

 Illustrations were drawn from the author's 

 work, theoretical and experimental, on the 

 theory of the catalytic action of acids, 

 which showed that the accelerations pro- 

 duced by the catalyzing acid are simply 

 due to the fact that the reacting component 

 in such actions (esterification, saponifica- 

 tion, inversion, amidine formation, etc.) is 

 a positive ion whose mass (concentration) 

 is increased by the addition of the acid. 

 In the oxidation of aldehydes by silver 

 nitrate in alkaline media (or of glucose by 

 alkaline copper solutions), it was shown 

 that the alkali is used to increase the con- 

 centration of the reducing component of 

 the aldehyde, e. g., (NuO)CH, a methylene 

 derivative with a bivalent carbon atom 

 holding a free positive and a free negative 

 charge. The alkali by suppressing the 

 silver ion has a retarding effect on the 

 oxidizing power of the silver nitrate. The 

 demonstration was made with Ostwald's 

 chemometrie device. 



The Condensation of Nitromalonic Alde- 

 hyde with Acetonyl Acetone: W. J. 

 Hall. 



From earlier work upon the condensa- 

 tiop of nitromalonic aldehyde with acetone 

 and its derivatives it may be inferred that 

 two molecules of the aldehyde would con- 

 dense with one molecule of acetonyl ace- 

 tone and give a dinitro-dioxy-diphenyl. 

 This result is accomplished only in the 

 presence of a large amount of the con- 

 densing agent, otherwise but one molecule 

 of the aldehyde enters into the condensa- 

 tion and there results a 2-aeetonyl-4-nitro- 



phenol. Both of these products, however, 

 form but a small percentage of the total 

 yield in condensation products. The third 

 and largest portion arises from the con- 

 densation between one molecule of the alde- 

 hyde and one molecule of acetonyl acetone 

 in which the two methylenic groups, be- 

 tween the two carbonyl groups, are found 

 to react with the two aldehydic groups of 

 the single molecule. In this way a fine 

 carbon ring is formed which bears as sub- 

 stituents two acetyl groups and also a nitro 

 group— a l-nitro-3, 4-diacetylcyclopenta- 

 diene. This constitutes therefore a syn- 

 thesis for derivatives of this class of homo- 

 cyclic compounds. A number of similar 

 condensations are already under investiga- 

 tion. 



The Conversion of Nitromethane into Ftd- 

 minates: Lauder William Jokes. 

 When a cold solution of mercuric chlo- 

 ride is poured into a cold solution of so- 

 dium isonitromethane, a white salt is pre- 

 cipitated, which Nef (Ann., 280, 275) 

 assumed to be mercuric isonitromethane. 

 This salt has been isolated, and has been 

 found to be nearly white and quite ex- 

 plosive. Its reactions show that it is un- 

 doubtedly mercuric isonitromethane. If 

 this white salt is heated with water it 

 passes very readily into mercuric fulmi- 

 nate, with the simultaneous formation of 

 the explosive, yellow salt studied by V. 

 Meyer and Billet {Ber., 5, 1030), Nef, and 

 others. 



The formation of formhydroximic acid 

 derivatives by the action of acyl chlorides 

 upon sodium isonitromethane (Am. Chem. 

 J., 20, 25), and the successful transforma- 

 tion of formhydroximic acid derivatives 

 into fulminates by Biddle {Ann., 310, 13), 

 Nef (Ann., 280, 317) and Wieland (Ber., 

 40, 418) suggest an interpretation of the 

 changes which mercuric isonitromethane 

 undergoes in its conversion into fulminate. 



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