150 



Dr. Hofrnann on a New Series of Bodies 



[RecesSj 



I have designated the hody described in this note by the name of cyanide 

 of amyl ; I am of course aware that the same name has been given to the 

 substance produced by the action of cyanide of potassium on the sulph- 

 amylates ; but as the latter compound, in consequence of its transformation 

 into caproic acid and ammonia, has a right to the name capronitrile, I have 

 thought it desirable to distinguish, provisionally at least, the new product 

 by the name of cyanide of amyl. 



The examination of the cyanides of amyl and phenyl establishes in a 

 positive manner the existence of a group of bodies isomeric with the nitriles 

 derived from the ordinary alcohols and phenols. 



I have not as yet pursued more minutely the study of the other terms of 

 these groups ; in fact the field opened by these new observations presents 

 questions much more attractive. The existence of the new homologues of 

 hydrocyanic acid allow us to foresee the formation of quite another series 

 of homologues of cyanogen. These bodies will be produced by the action 

 of chloroform on the diamines. Ethylene-diamine, for example, will thus 

 be transformed into the dicyanide of ethylene ; — 



CJIgN^ + 2CHCI3 = C.H^N, + GHCl. 



Ethylene- Chloroform. Dicyanide of 



diamine. ethylene. 



I am now occupied with the study of the action of chloroform on ethy- 

 lene-diamine, and I propose shortly to inform the Royal Society whether 

 experiment confirms the predictions of theory. 



in. ^^On a New Series of Bodies Homologous to Hydrocyanic Acid. •'^ — 

 III. By A. W. HoFMANN, LL.D., E.R.S. Received September 

 7, 1867. 



The new cyanides isomeric with the nitriles, which I have described in 

 two previous communications, are not formed exclusively by the action 

 of chloroform on the primaiy monamines. On perusing the papers de- 

 scribing the examination of the organic cyanides, we see at a glance that 

 the chemists who investigated them have had in their hands at the same 

 time the isomeric cyanides with which I am engaged. 



In fact everyone who has distilled mixtures of sulphomethylate, sulph- 

 ethylate, or sulphamylate of potassium with the cyanide of the same 

 metal, will remember the repulsive odour possessed by the products so ob- 

 tained. This odour only disappears in proportion as the product is puri- 

 fied, and especially after its treatment with acid, in order to rem.ove the 

 ammonia, and with oxide of mercury to separate the hydrocyanic acid. 



Dumas, Malaguti, and Le Blanc, in their researches on the nitriles, men- 

 tion the insupportable odour possessed by the cyanides obtained by the 

 cyanide-of-potassium process ; while the products obtained by the dehydra- 

 tion of the ammoniacal salts by means of phosphoric anhydride have a very 

 agreeable aromatic odour. 



