1869.] Ethylic Mustard-oil and Sulphocyanide of Ethyl. 275 



with xanthic ether. Accordingly the metamorphosis of sulphocyanide of 

 ethyl under the influence of sulphuric acid would appear to be accom- 

 plished in the following two phases : — 



2 [c N 5 } S ] + 3 Hs ° = C H 5 } S ^ + 2 H 3 N + C °*> 



£ } C S 2 + H 2 0=^ |* } S + C 2 + H 2 S. 



It is true Messrs. Schmitt and Glutz, when submitting their ether to 

 the action of water, obtained mercaptan, whilst, according to my ob- 

 servations, the products of decomposition of sulphocyanide of ethyl with 

 hydrochloric acid are sulphide of ethyl and hydrosulphuric acid. But 

 since two molecules of mercaptan contain the elements of one molecule of 

 sulphide of ethyl and one molecule of sulphuretted hydrogen, the final 

 products of decomposition of sulphocyanide of ethyl by water and by 

 hydrochloric and sulphuric acids are virtually the same. 



Action of Sulphuric Acid upon Allylic Mustard-oil. 



Mustard-oil par excellence, when treated with sulphuric acid, as might 

 have been expected, exactly imitates the behaviour of the ethyl-compound. 

 Sulphoxide of carbon is evolved with effervescence ; the residue contains 

 sulphate of allylamine. 



C (3g 5 |n + h 2 o = c ^ j N + CSO. 



The reaction proceeds with the utmost regularity and precision. The 

 liquid scarcely becomes coloured ; mixed with water and distilled with 

 hydrate of sodium, it yields abundance of perfectly pure allylamine. It 

 would be difficult to imagine a more elegant and expeditious process for 

 preparing this interesting base in a state of perfect purity. Allylamine 

 thus obtained was identified by the analysis of the platinum -salts, the 

 preparation of the terribly smelling allyl-formonitril, which I shall describe 

 in another paper, and, lastly, by its retransformation into mustard-oil, 

 according to the method described in my last paper*. 



Also phenylic and tolylic mustard-oils exhibit an analogous behaviour 

 with sulphuric acid ; in these cases likewise sulphoxide of carbon is evolved ; 

 the base, however, does not remain as sulphate, but in the form of an 

 amine-sulphate in the residue. 



C ^f 5 }N + H 2 S0 4 = C6 ** s }n,S0 8 + CSO. 



Even phenyl-sulphocarbamide, as well as its homologues and analogues, 

 is changed in this sense. 



* Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xvii. p. 67. 



