446 Prof. A. W. Hofmann on the Transformation ^c. [June 18^ 



chloric liquid separated by filtration from the cyanide, and decomposed by 

 hydrate of sodium, when the base separates in a state of purity. 



Menaphtylamine is a very caustic liquid, boiling between 290° and 293°. 

 Freshly distilled it is colourless, but soon acquires a yellow tint. It at- 

 tracts carbonic acid with such avidity that it is impossible to pour it from 

 one vessel into another without a pellicle of the difficultly soluble carbonate 

 being formed on its surface. 



The composition of the base was sufficiently indicated by theory ; it ap- 

 peared nevertheless desirable to estabhsh it experimentally by the analyses 

 of the hydrochlorate and the platinum-salt. 



The hydrochlorate crystallizes with the greatest facility in difficultly 

 soluble needles, containing 



C„H,,NC1= H In,HC1. 

 H J 



The yellow crystalline precipitate which is formed by the addition of 

 perchloride of platinum to the hydrochlorate has the composition 



C,, H,, N, Pt CI, = 2 [(C,, H3) N, HCl], Pt CI,. 



The transformation of the thio-compound into menaplitylamine is thus 

 seen simply to consist in the substitution of 2 atoms of hydrogen for 1 atom 

 of sulphur : — 



C,, N S + 2 H H = C,, H,, N + H, S. 



I have but little to say about the properties of menaphtylamine ; never- 

 theless the extraordinary crystalline tendencies of its salts deserve to be 

 mentioned. The sulphate and nitrate are likewise difficultly soluble ; the 

 latter crystallizes in splendid nitrelike prisms. In contact with bisulphide 

 of carbon menaphtylamine solidifies at once to a crystalline mass. When 

 treated with alcoholic soda and chloroform, it is converted into the terribly 

 smelling formomenaphtylnitrile, which I propose to examine somewhat 

 more in detail. 



I have also prepared henzylamine, starting from thiobenzamide instead of 

 benzonitrile. The experiment is of course likewise successful, the advan- 

 tage, however, less conspicuous, since benzonitrile fixes hydrogen with far 

 greater facility than the cyanide of naphtyl. 



Be this, however, as it may, the facility with which hydrogen in condi- 

 tione nascendi acts upon sulphur- compounds deserves to be noticed. I 

 propose to examine in the direction indicated by the above experiments some 

 of the more important sulphur-compounds, more especially the thio-acids 

 of the fatty and aromatic series, and the two groups of sulphocyanic ethers. 

 The investigation of the latter, indeed, has already furnished me results of 

 great neatness and precision. 



In conclusion, I must not leave unmentioned that, since my first com- 

 munication on the menaphtan scries, I have had an opportunity of removing 

 the slight doubts respecting the identity of the acid obtained by the action 



