M. Volhard on the Synthesis of Sar cosine. 529 



case the feebly basic properties of caffeine are increased by losing 

 the acid radical €0 agrees with other observations. 



By the action of ammonia on chloracetic acid, glycocol, 

 € 2 H 5 NO 2 , is obtained ; by substituting in this reaction me- 

 thylamine, G H 5 N, for ammonia, Volhard* has found that sar- 

 cosine, € 3 H 7 NO 2 , is formed, the base which Liebig obtained 

 as a product of the decomposition of kreatine. 



Chloracetic ether was mixed with an excess of concentrated 

 aqueous solution of methylamine, and the mixture heated in 

 closed tubes to 125°. It was then boiled with baryta water until 

 all methylamine was removed, the baryta separated by sulphuric 

 acid, and the filtrate therefrom evaporated to dryness on the 

 water-bath. From this mass, on recrystallization, pure hydro- 

 chlorate of sarcosine was obtained. 



From this body the free base and its platinum-salt were 

 procured. 



The constitution of essential oil of rue has been found by 

 Williams f to be C 22 H 22 2 , which has been confirmed by Hall- 

 wachs J. The former chemist considered it to be the aldehyde of 



Q20 JJ21 Q2^| 



a radical enodyle, tt f. Harbordt, who has recently § 



examined this body, by analyses and determinations of the 

 vapour-density has arrived at the same results in reference to 

 its empirical formula ; but he considers it to be differently con- 

 stituted. The characteristic properties of aldehydes are that 

 they combine with ammonia, and that by oxidation they yield 

 an acid with the same number of atoms of carbon. The property 

 of combining with alkaline bisulphites is common to both alde- 

 hydes and ketones. The chief constituent of oil of rue does, as 

 Strecker has found, when saturated with ammonia and cooled, 

 yield a crystalline body ; but this only contains \ per cent, of 

 ammonia, and is nothing more than unchanged oil. Harbordt 

 has found that the oil of rue, when oxidized, even by the most 

 gentle action, always yielded capric acid, C 20 H 20 O 4 , and never 

 an acid of the formula C 22 H 22 O 4 , as it ought to have done had 

 it been the corresponding aldehyde. He accordingly considers it 



p20 TJ19 C\Z~\ 



to be a ketone, methylcaprinol, ~ 2 „ 3 I . 



Barth and Hlasiwetz || have obtained a new acid from milk- 

 sugar by the action of bromine upon it in the presence of water. 



* Liebig's Annalen, August 1862. f Phil. Mag. S. 4. vol. xvi. p. 380. 

 % Liebig's Annalen, vol. cxiii. p. 107. 



§ Ibid. September 1862. || Ibid. April 1862. 



Phil. Mag. S. 4. No. 164. Suppl Vol. 24. 2 N 



