1864] 



Mr. P. Griess on a New Class of Compounds. 



375 



pretend in such delicate experiments to have arrived at nearer approxima- 

 tions than that of a degree or two of the electrometer, or within quantities 

 less than that of '25 of a circular inch. If the manipulation, however, be 

 skilfully conducted, and the electrical insulations perfect, it is astonishing 

 how rigidly exact the numerical results generally come out. 



XX. " On a New Class of Compounds in which Nitrogen is substituted 

 for Hydrogen .^^ By Peter Griess, Esq. Communicated by Dr. 

 HoFMANN. Received June 2, 1864. 



(Abstract.) 



All the bodies in which nitrogen is substituted for hydrogen which I 

 have discovered during the last few years* may be divided into two dis- 

 tinctly different classes. The first class comprises those bodies which are 

 obtained when three atoms of hydrogen in two atoms of an amido-com- 

 pound are replaced by one of nitrogen from nitrous acid. The members of 

 the second group are formed by the action of nitrous acid upon one equi- 

 valent of an amido-compound only. The following equations will best 

 show these various reactions : — 



I. 2(€, H, NO,) + NHO, =€,,H ,, O, + 2 H,0 



Amidobenzoic Nitrous Diazoamido- 

 acid. acid. benzoic acid. 



II. C, N3 + NHO, = H, N, O, + 2 0. 



Picramic acid Diazo-dinitro- 

 (amidonitropbenylic phenylic acid, 



acid). 



I have hitherto chiefly examined into the constitution of the bodies that 

 form according to the first equation (diazoamidobenzol, diazoamidobenzoic 

 acid), and have only incidentally explored the field of bodies which equa- 

 tion II. opens up. I have had occasion since to study more closely several 

 representatives of the latter class of compounds, which are derived from 

 aniline (amidobenzol) and analogous ' organic bases ; and since the results 

 which I obtained cannot but excite some interest, I may be permitted to 

 submit them briefly to the Royal Society. 



Nitrate of Biasohmzol, C, H^N^, NHO3. 

 This compound is most readily obtained by passing a rapid current of 

 nitrous acid gas through a solution of nitrate of aniline, saturated in the 

 cold, until aniUne ceases to be separated by the addition of solution of 

 caustic potash to the liquid. On diluting the solution then with three 

 times its volume of alcohol, and adding a sufiicient quantity of ether, nitrate 

 of diazobenzol separates in long white needles. In order to remove a trace 

 of a colouring substance, the crystals are redissolved in a small quantity of 



* Ann. der Chem. und Pharm. vol. cxiii. p. 201 ; vol. cxvii. p. 1 ; vol. cxxi. p. 257. 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. x. p. 591 ; vol. xi. p. 263 ; vol, xii. p. 418. 



