PROFESSOR LETTS ON PHOSPHORUS-BETAINES. 311 
Bruui* had investigated the action of heat on ethlyated betaine, but had 
obtained a totally different class of products from those into which thetine 
is resolved. 
Thus the action of heat on compounds of thetine and of betaine has been 
studied, with the result that they behave differently. 
How will salts of the phosphorised betaine behave when heated? Will 
they give similar compounds to those which betaine yields, or will they be 
decomposed in the same way as thetine ? 
This question the author determined if possible to decide: but before 
describing the experiments which he performed with this object, it appears to 
him to be advisable to give a short resumé of BRUHL’s experiments with betaine, 
and of his own with thetine. | 
BrwuHL’s experiments were conducted with triethyl betaine (triethyl-amido- 
acetic acid) 
CH,—COOH CH,—Co 
(C,H), NC or (CoH)NC 
ee Non att5)3 oe 
and also with its hydrochlorate, 
CH, — COOH 
(CHIN é 
The former was heated in a bath of sulphuric acid to 210°C. At this 
temperature it began to froth and to distil, the distillate consisting of a 
colourless oil possessing an ammoniacal odour. The temperature rose towards 
the end of the operation to 230°, and a small quantity of charcoal remained in 
the retort. The distillate consisted essentially of triethylamine and of the 
unchanged betaine. These two bodies were the only ones which Briuut could 
obtain from the betaine by the action of heat, but the temperature at which 
the distillation is conducted has a considerable influence on their relative 
quantities. At a temperature of 210°-230°, the quantity of triethylamine is 
from one-third to one-fourth that of the betaine taken, whilst from one-half to 
two-thirds of the latter distils unchanged. 
The only salt of the betaine with which BRvut appears to have made experi- 
ments was the hydrochlorate. Regarding the action of heat on this, he merely 
says, “I have satisfied myself by experiment that even the chloride (hydro- 
chlorate) distils, but with considerable decomposition.” These results appear 
to show that betaines and their compounds either dissociate into a triamine, 
CH,—CO 
and the radical chagbe (or the products of its decomposition), or else distil 
unchanged. 
* Annalen der Chem, u, Pharm., vol. clxxvii. p, 214. 
