: : ; ie ay 
120 ’ eae 
CH;:CH,-CH=CH. Nef Pe nite for. purposes of explanation, the tempor 
of a cyclopropane ring, which is easily split. 
CH;- ve + CH, CH. CH—CH- CHa a 
—> CH;-CH—CH,—CH, —+> ; a1 ee a 
CH; | | CHs3- CH 'GH==CHs: Be % Feat 
The striking rearrangements amonest the cyclic compounds — the 6-ring passing — 
into a 7-ring; the 7-ring into an 8-ring, and vice versa have been : thoroea Sie 
by Meerwein*) in his work on borneol and camphene. — 
‘The chemical investigation of the aliphatic hydrocarbons is of. great vate to. ch 
industry. Searching experiments have shown that ethyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, acetone, 4 
glycol, chlorohydrin can be obtained in large quantities from oil gases. Attempts have — 
also been made to utilise the unsaturated hydrocarbons of’ petroleum. The ‘ngdeeeea . 
genation of these substances is technically very difficult, since the sulphur generally 
present in them renders the catalyst impure, and useless. The olefines however, are 
easy to oxidise, and it is possible that in this manner they may be advantageously 
employed in the preparation of fatty acids’). An American petroleum company has 
recently taken up the preparation of a series of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols 
from petroleum and oil gas olefines. 
Not much, as yet, can be said with certainly on the origin of setateme. Though 
Engler pointed out that in the destructive distillation of fats and fatty oils under 
pressure, a mixture mostly of hydrocarbons was obtained, which resembled petroleum, 
yet this does not furnish a proof of the formation of petroleum. Mineral oils are often 
found in completely unchanged strata, which has never come into contact with volcanoes — S 
and other heat sources, as in the lime rocks of Trenton (Ohio). It is certainly possible, 
that the reactions experimentally shown by Engler, also ake place at a lower temperature, — a 
and occupy long periods of time; but how saturated hydrocarbons were formed in: 
‘nature in a bio-chemical way, is still unknown to us. For example, we know nothing : a 
certain about the formation of n-heptane in the turpentine of Pinws Sabiniana, Douglas, ~ 
and of the paraffins in many volatile oils, as in rose oil. Perhaps it is a case of ee 
anzrobic fermentation, as has been proved to occur in organic remains under water — 4 
and mud — decomposition of cellulose to methane. Many micro-organisms, e. g., tubercle i? ; 
bacilli form wax-like substances, and paraffin is regarded by Reicha Aas a 1S 
ae. 
decomposition product of wood. a 
Petroleum is further changed by the action of sulphur, air, and oxygen. “WSulonaes a 
in tri-atomic form combines, according to Erdmann, directly with olefines to form. the 
so-called thiozonides; and sulphur strongly heated with heavy hydrocarbons yields tar, — 
or coke together with hydrogen sulphide. Although the structure of the valuable sub- a 
stance ichthyol is unknown, success has been achieved: in preparing a pra similar a 
to Austrian ichthyol. 
H. Stoltzenberg*) gives a process for obtaining terpenes and other products of 
the dry distillation of the defecation slime of the sugar factories. As soon after i 
formation as possible, and before decomposition has set in, the slime is dried vita 
1) Cf. Report April 1915, 90; 1919, 133. — 2) Cf. also the work of C. Harries, Berl. Berichte 
65. — §) D.R. P. 316503, KI. 12°. As per Chem. Zentralbl. 1920, Hl. 188. —° *) Pane, informa 
