1866.] 



Preparation of EtJiylamine. 



219 



From which it will be seen that even the last tenth of the bases did not 

 contain much di- and tri-bases. 



The former -f-^ gave, as aforesaid, rather more platinum than ethylamine 

 salt yields, and therefore contained ammonia. 



In order to make out whether there was any di- and tri-base along with 

 the ethylamine in these former fractions, we took No. 3 (corresponding 

 to -^-q) and made a platinum-fractionation as follows : — 



No. 3 gave 40*62 and 40-13 per cent, of platinum. No. 3, after some 

 pure chloride of ammonium had crystallized out (the crystals were analyzed 

 and proved to be quite pure chloride of ammonium), was converted into a 

 platinum-salt, and that platinum-salt fractionated so as to leave the portion 

 richest in the high bases. This salt, which would be rich in the di- and 

 tri-bases if any had been present in No. 3, gave this result : — 



'7666 grm. gave '3090 grm. of platinum = Pt per cent. 40*03. 



From which it is manifest that di- and tri-bases were absent. 



From the foregoing we concluded that all the higher bases were concen- 

 trated in the last fraction, but that ammonia passed over during the whole 

 distillation. The objection might therefore be made that mixtures of am- 

 monia and di- and tri-ethylamines would give the same numbers. In 

 order to deprive this objection of its force we made the following experi- 

 ments. Iodide of ethyl, alcohol, and ammonia were digested as before, and 

 the mixed iodides so obtained distilled from excess of potash, the vapour 

 thus obtained absorbed by dilute sulphuric acid, care being taken that the 

 acid was not in excess. The fluid so obtained was rendered very slightly 

 acid with the same acid, and then evaporated on the water-bath. The 

 semisolid residue was treated with strong alcohol, and allowed to stand one 

 night. It was then filtered, the filtrate measured, and the amount of sul- 

 phuric acid determined in a measured portion. Enough K H O was then 

 added to the alcoholic liquid to liberate of the bases present. The pot- 

 ash was added in solution in water. The liquid was then distilled, the 

 distillate being received in dilute hydrochloric acid. A portion of this 

 liquid was then evaporated to dryness and placed over sulphuric acid. Its 

 percentage of chlorine was then determined : 



•3826 of salt gave '6696 Ag CI ; 

 •.• 43-29 per cent. CI. Theory 43-55. 



From these numbers it is obvious that the substance must have been pure 

 ethylamine. It could have contained no ammonia, or at most only minute 

 traces, and therefore the above objection is completely disposed of. 



A portion of this pure hydrochlorate of ethylamine was then treated 

 with aqueous ammonia in insufficient quantity to combine with the whole 

 of the hydrochloric acid present. We distilled this liquid into dilute 

 hydrochloric acid, evaporated it to dryness, and determined the amount of 

 chlorine present in the residue. The result was : — 



