SUNLIGHT UPON METHYL ALCOHOL. 61 
If we accept the experimental work of A. Richardson upon amyl 
alcohol* and ether,” the presence of water and, therefore, hydrogen per- 
oxide is not necessary for the oxidation of these compounds in presence 
of sunlight. In the first case the amyl alcohol was dried over sodium, 
sealed in a tube which was later broken in a large tube through which 
oxygen, dried over phosphorus pentoxide, previously had been passed. In 
the second case the ether was purified and dried by means of phosphorus 
pentoxide in an apparatus especially designed for the purpose, sealed in 
tubes which were broken in an atmosphere of dry oxygen, and exposed to 
the sunlight. In all cases hydrogen peroxide was found, and Richardson 
believed that it was formed in the place of water which would normally 
be an oxidation product. The reaction with ether he gives as 
2(C:H;)20 + 50, = 4CH:.COOH + 2H:0:. 
With artificial light of short wave length no difficulty has been 
experienced in decomposing methyl alcohol either alone or in 
the presence of oxygen, and formaldehyde has been identified 
as one of the products of the reaction. 
H. Thiele*® found that air and methyl alcohol contracted slightly in 
volume on exposure to ultra-violet light of the quartz mercury lamp and 
he states that the alcohol is probably oxidized. 
Berthelot and Gaudechon™ decomposed methyl and ethyl alcohol by 
means of the light of the quartz mercury lamp and found that the corre- 
sponding aldehyde and hydrogen resulted. The reaction with methyl! alcohol 
is represented as follows: 
CH:.OH — H.C:0 + Hn. 
This is the reaction produced by Orlov by means of a catalyzer without the 
aid of external energy. 
The mechanism of the oxidation of methy] alcohol by light and 
oxygen is explained by the presence of hydrogen peroxide. In 
the absence of water, and consequently hydrogen peroxide, the 
minute dissociation of the alcohol, perhaps according to the 
methylane idea, is an interesting possibility. 
EXPERIMENTAL. PREPARATION OF METHYL ALCOHOL. 
Methyl alcohol was purified by four different methods and, 
wherever samples are employed in the following paper, the 
method of purification will be referred to by number. 
First method.—Pure benzoic acid from toluene was converted into methyl 
benzoate, employing Kahlbaum’s methyl alcohol and pure sulphuric acid. 
*% Journ. Chem. Soc. London (1896), 69, 1349. 
* Tbid., 1352. 
~* Ber. d. deutschen chem. Ges. (1907), 40, 4916. 
* Compt. rend. Acad. sci. (1911), 153, 383. 
