1869.] Action of Sodium and Iodide of Ethyl on Acetic Ether. 91 



present with remarking that I am inclined to regard the base C 8 H 7 N 3 O 

 as the creatinine of the benzoic series ; it stands to anthranilic acid exactly 

 in the same relation as creatinine "par excellence " does to sarcosine : — 

 C 8 H 7 N 3 0. C,H 7 N 3 0. 



Benzo-creatinine. Creatinine. 



C 7 H 7 N0 2 . C 3 H 7 N0 3 . 



Anthranilic acid. Sarcosine. 

 Herr Neubauer has shown * that creatinine, when treated in a sealed tube 

 with baryta- water, undergoes the following change : — 



C^H 7 N 3 0 + H a O=C 4 H 6 N 2 0 2 +NH 3 . 



Creatinine. Methylhydantoine. 

 I consider it highly probable that the base C 8 H 7 N 3 O will split up in 

 like manner with the formation of the above-described compound C 8 H 6 N 2 0 2 , 

 according to the equation 



C s H 7 N 3 0 + H 2 0 = C 8 H 6 N 2 0 2 +NH 3 . 

 Indeed this latter compound exhibits great resemblance in its chemical 

 deportment to the methylhydantoine of Herr Neubauer. 



In conclusion, I should point out that the azodioxindol described by 

 Herrn Baeyer and Knop in their paper on indigo-blue* is isomeric with the 

 before-mentioned compound, C 8 H G N 2 0 2 . These two bodies show, more- 

 over, great similarity in other respects, so much so that I should feel 

 inclined to view them as identical if their fusing-points did not differ 

 essentially. Herrn Baeyer and Knop state that the fusing-point of their 

 azodioxindol is 300° C, while the compound I obtained fuses above 350° C. 

 Should it turn out, however, on further investigation that the two bodies are 

 identical, the compound C 8 H 6 N 2 0 2 would have to be regarded as the 

 first derivative of indigo which has ever been prepared synthetically, and 

 which, like indigo-blue itself, contains eight atoms of carbon. 



VI. " On the successive Action of Sodium and Iodide of Ethyl on 

 Acetic Ether." By J. Alfred Wanklyn, F.C.S. &c. Com- 

 municated by Professor Williamson. Received July 16, 1869. 



In a remarkable paper which appeared in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions, vol. clvi. p. 37 (1866), Frankland andDuppa described the products 

 obtained on treatment with iodide of ethyl of the yellow wax-like mass 

 given by the action of sodium on acetic ether. Besides the description 

 of the compounds, Frankland and Duppa give a theory of their origin, 



* Ann. der Ckem. und Pharm. vol. cxl. p. 26. 



