92 Report of Schimmel § Co. April/October 1917. 



quicker and easier, but it must not be forgotten that its smell is disagreeable and that 

 it is poisonous. 



The same applies to benzaldehyde, as it is very cheap, dissolves celloidine very 

 quickly, but has a strong odour and is very rapidly oxidized to benzoic acid. Although 

 it gives a clear field of vision, it would not be possible to employ it even for including 

 preparations temporarily and accordingly one must stick to cedar oil, terpineol, and 

 benzylalcohol. Especially the last-mentioned substance is much to be recommended 

 for this purpose, as |t forms so to speak a liquid balsam. 



Musk, artificial. Reduction and hydrolysis of 2,4,6-trinitro-3-tert-butyl-l-methyl- 

 benzene and of trinitro-tert-butylxylene. The part that 2, 4, 6-trinitro-3-ter£.-butyl-l -methyl- 

 benzene plays as artificial musk in the chemistry of perfumes made it appear desirable 

 to J. Herzig and F. Wenzel *) to produce the corresponding phloroglucinol of this com- 

 pound by reducing and hydrolyzing it and to investigate it thoroughly. The produc- 

 tion of the amino-derivate in the form of the hydrochloride succeeded without a hitch; 

 however, on hydrolyzing the amino-derivate the tertiary butyl-group was completely 

 split off, whereby ordinary methyl phloroglucinol was formed. While identifying the 

 latter, the authors observed an interesting dimorphism of the acetyl-product. On first 

 preparing it they obtained a substance melting between 54 and 56°, whereas Weidel 2 ) 

 mentions 52°; this product, however, was lost during an analysis which failed, and 

 since that time a compound formed melting, however, at 76°. A methylphloroglucinol 

 also, prepared according to Weidel's directions from trinitrotoluene, produced an acetyl- 

 derivative with the melting point of 76°. However, there appears to be no doubt as to 

 the identity of both substances, so that probably the formation of the acetyl-product 

 with the melting point of 52° will be realized again, but possibly in another laboratory. 



Strange to say, when the hydrochloride of the 2, 4, 6-triamino-£er£.-butyl-l -methyl- 

 benzene is acetylated, one amino-group is exchanged for the acetyl-radicle, an occur- 

 rence which finds analogies elsewhere. 



It came to light during the experiments with 2,4,6-trinitro-ter£.-butyl-xylene that 

 also in this case the £er£.-butyl-group during hydrolysis was split off, so that dimethyl- 

 phloroglucinol was formed as a final product. Occasionally, the scission already takes 

 place during the reduction, for which reason it is by no means easy to obtain the 

 hydrochloride of the triamino-£er£.-butylxylene as a pure substance. Quite apart from 

 the separation of the tertiary butyl group, even the amino-groups are substituted by 

 the hydroxyl group owing to partial hydrolysis. It was possible to isolate 3 different 

 compounds from the crude reduction product, namely the hydrochlorides of the triamino- 

 £er£.-butylxylene, the triaminoxylene, and the diaminohydroxyxylene. 



Unfortunately, the experiments offered no certain explanation as to the manner in 

 which the tertiary butyl group was split off during hydrolysis. The possibility of 

 splitting off the alkyl groups seems to depend greatly on their size and ramifaction. 

 The methyl group proved to be absolutely resistant. Doubtless, it will be impossible 

 by means of hydrolysis to produce phloroglucinols with large, especially with ramified 

 alkyl-radicles. 



Peru Balsam. What wonderful tricks in the shape of fraudulent proceedings come 

 to light now-a-days were disclosed to us on examining a product called Cinnameinum 

 album, which we received for investigation from» a Berlin firm. Its colourlessness and 



< 



l ) Monatsh. f. Chem. 37 1916), 567. — *) IUdem 19 (1898), 223. 



