530 • M. Vogt on Naphthylic Mercaptan. 



Oefele has also found* that when monosulphide of ethyle is 



gradually added to fuming nitric acid, an energetic action ensues, 



the result of which is the formation of a body which crystallizes 



readily in thin large-sized colourless plates. This body has the 



composition C 8 H 10 S 2 O 4 , and Oefele names it Diethylsulphan, 



C 4 H 5 1 

 considering its composition to be p 4 tt 5 >S 2 4 , analogous to 



C ,2 H 5 1 . " -* 



sulphobenzole, p l2 tjs f S 2 O 4 , which he names diphenylsulphan. 



Diethylsulphan melts at 70°, and boils at 248° C, distilling 

 without decomposition. Treated with nascent hydrogen, it is 

 reduced to monosulphide of ethyle. 



Vogtt showed that the chloride of phenylsulphuric acid, by 

 the action of nascent hydrogen, yielded phenylmercaptan. 

 SchertelJ shows that by applying this reaction to the chloride 

 of naphthylsulphuric acid (which Kolbe and his pupils name 

 chloride of naphthyl-sulphan (Naphthylsulfanchlorid)), the corre- 

 sponding mercaptan of naphthylic alcohol is obtained, a change 

 expressed by the following equation, 



C 2o H 7 S 2 4 Cl + 6H = C 20 H 8 S 2 + HCl-f4HO. 



Chloride of Naphthylic 



naphthylsulphan. mercaptan. 



The change is effected by adding the substance to a mixture of 

 zinc and sulphuric acid from which hydrogen is being disengaged. 

 On distilling the liquid, an oil passes over, which, after appro- 

 priate purification, has the following properties : — colourless, 

 highly refringent, of unpleasant but not intense odour, not 

 miscible with water, but soluble in alcohol and ether. It has 

 the specific gravity 1*146, and boils at 285° C. Like other 

 mercaptans, it readily exchanges an atom of hvdrogen for metals. 



C 20 H 7 1 

 The naphthylmercaptide of mercury, tt f S 2 , is a light 



pale yellow powder ; the corresponding compounds of copper, 

 p y S 2 , and of lead, p, > S 2 , are also insoluble preci- 

 pitates. 



When naphthylmercaptan is dissolved in strong ammonia 

 and the solution left to spontaneous evaporation, after some 

 days transparent well-defined crystals are formed, belonging to 

 the klinorhombic system. These are the bisulphide of naphthyle, 

 C 20 H 7 S 2 , the production of which, supposing the previous 



* Liebig's Annalen, October 1864, p. 86. 

 t Phil. Mag. S. 4. vol. xxii. p. 302. 

 X Liebig's Annalen, October 1864. 



