98 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadeiivj. 



The latter then undergo a powerful reduction, with the foiination of a 

 saturated fatty acid. This theory accouuts equally well for the formation of 

 fatty acids containing either an even or an odd number of carbon atoms in 

 the molecule. If, however, all the higher fatty acids which occur naturally 

 contain an even number of carbon atoms, then the theory suggested by Eaper' 

 and by Buchner and Meisenheimer^ is in letter agreement with the facts. The 

 latter have shown that, in the f onnation of fatty acids from carbohydrates, lactic 

 acid is the fii-st product, and that when the lactic acid decomposes into acet- 

 aldehyde, carbon dioxide, and hydi'ogen, condensation of the aldehyde may 

 take place, leading to the formation of higher fatty acids. Eaper finds that, 

 contrary to lieben's rule, in successive condensations of acetaldehyde, a 

 sti-aight and not a branching chain is formed. Curtius^ supports this theory by 

 showing that a/3-hexylene aldehyde, which occurs in various plants, is in 

 the case of the latter the probable starting substance for the formation of the 

 fatty acids. The hexylene aldehyde may be formed by the condensation of 

 acetaldehyde. 



Now it is clear that, if the higher natural fatty acids are formed by the 

 condensation of acetaldehyde, only those acids which contain an even number 

 of carbon atoms in the molecule can occur in plants, and that consequently 

 the number of carbon atoms in the molecule of montanic acid must be an 

 even one. 



The analyses of the derivatives of montanic acid described in the experi- 

 mental portion of this paper agree in every case with the formula CiiHi.Os 

 attributed to the acid by Eyan and Dillon {loc. cit.). 



An unsuccessful attempt was made to convert ceiyl alcohol into montanic 

 acid by means of the malonic est«r synthesis. The formation of ceryl malonic 

 ester from cei-yl iodide and sodium malonic ester was not effected even when 

 the reaction was tried under the most varied conditions. 



The converse operation — the preparation of ceryl alcohol from montanic 

 acid — was imsuccessfully attempted. The method employed was similar to 

 that used by Miss E. Jeffreys' in the preparation of pentadecylmethylm-ethane 

 and pentadecylamine. The reaction was tried several times with montan- 

 amide, but in every_case the yield was exti'emely small, and the difficulty of 

 removing traces of amide fi-om the product was so great that a pm-e tirethane 

 was not obtained. 



In aU the preparations in which the " Giignard reaction " was employed, 

 the tertiary alcohol was isolated with a good yield, except in the cases of the 



' Joum- Chem. Soc, 1907, p. 1831. - Ber., 1908, xU, p. 1410. 

 ' Ann. eccxc, 1912, p S9. ' Ber, 30 (1897), p. IBC-S. 



