1916.] The Tk ird Indian Science Congress. c x i 



Note on the Constituents of the Bark of the Hymenodyctyon 



excelsum.—By C. S. Gibson and J. L. Simonsen. 



The authors described experiments which were carried out with the 

 object of isolating the alkaloid hymenodyctine. They confirmed the 

 work of Broughton who showed the bark to be non-alkaloidal and to 

 contain the glucoside aesculin. 



The Nitration of 2— Acetylamino— 3 : 4— Dimethoxy benzoic 



acid.— By J. L. Simonsen and M. Gopala Rau. 



The authors isolated from the nitration of the above mentioned sub- 

 stance 6-nitro-2-acetylamino-3 : 4-dimethoxy benzoic acid and 3-acetyl- 

 om,T,rt A • 5-dinitero-l : 2-dimethoxy benzene. The former of these sub- 



amino-4 



stances was converted into 5-mtro-2 : 3-dimethoxy benzoic acid which 



was found to be identical with the acid previously prepared by Cain and 



Simonsen. The 6-nitro-2 : 3-dimethoxv benzoic acid was also investi- 

 gated. 



The Root Bark of Galotropis gigantea.~By Ernest George 



Hill and Annoda Prasad Sirkar. 



-. i^!?5 autilors have isolated two white solid crystalline esters melting 

 at 140°C and 210°C respectively. B 



i Th ? 3e TT on saponification gave two solid crystalline alcohols of the for- 

 mulae C^tO.OH and C 3S H 6l O.OH. The melting points of these alcohols 

 were 176°C and 215°C respectively. 



The esters were the isovalerates of these alcohols. 



Prom the alcohols the acetyl derivatives were prepared. These were 

 also crystalline white solids melting at 195°-196°C and 222°C respectively. 



Oxidation of the alcohols gave solid acids whose silver salts had the 

 formulae C .H^OsAg and C 3S H 59 O s Ag respectively. 



Reduction of Aliphatic Nitrites to Amines. — By P. Neoqi 



and T. C. Chowdhuri. 



In an earlier paper the authors had shown that aliphatic nitrites 

 are partially converted into the corresponding nitro-compounds when 

 heated to about 130°- 140°. In this paper they have shown that the corres- 

 ponding amines are obtained in addition to ammonia when the nitrites are 

 reduced by a current of hvdrogen in presence of reduced nickel or iron 

 heated to 130°- 140°. The yield of amine is least in the case of methyl 

 nitrite and is higher as the series is ascended. The formation of amines 

 at a higher temperature is explained by the fact that the nitrites are first 

 converted at that temperature into the nitro-compounds which are then 

 reduced to amine-. 



Space Formulae of Organic Ammonium Compounds according 



to Werner's Hypothesis. — By P. Neogi. 



The author showed that the isomerism and stereo-isomerism of 

 organic ammonium compounds are best explained by representing the 

 JUtrogen atom in the centre of a tetrahedron, the four positive valencies 

 being directed towards the four solid angles and the fifth negative bond 

 outside tetrahedron. This representation explains the isomerism of or- 

 ganic ammonium compounds much better than Van't Hoff's cube, 

 n illgerodt s double tetrahedron and BischofFs nvramidical formulae 



