18/0.] 



Isomeric with the Cyanuric Ethers. 



195 



Methylic Cyanurate. — When the ether which has heen poured off the 

 crystals is evaporated, a crystalline mass is left, which may be recrystallized 

 from alcohol, or, better, from hot water. The needles thus obtained possess 

 the characters of a pure substance. Determination of the carbon, hydrogen, 

 and nitrogen, the latter of which can easily be weighed as ammonia, yields 

 as the simplest atomic expression for this body the formula 



C 2 H 3 NO ; 



but it only required a somewhat closer examination to prove that this is 

 not the methylic cyanate but the methylic cyanurate, not the mono- 

 molecular but the trimolecular combination. The melting-point of the 

 crystals is 132°, the boiling-point (we were only in possession of a mode- 

 rate quantity) between 160° and 1/0°. These properties unmistakably 

 characterize the trimolecular compound, the cyanurate. 



It would have, nevertheless, been desirable experimentally to confirm 

 these indications by the vapour-density determination ; but this was pre- 

 vented by a peculiar comportment of the new body, which, however, fur- 

 nished evidence almost as conclusive as the vapour-density for the molecular 

 weight of the compound. When the new cyanurate is heated in a retort, 

 it distils without leaving an appreciable residue, the distillate solidifying 

 to a white crystalline mass. But these crystals are no longer the un- 

 changed body; their melting-point has risen from 132° to 1/5°, and their 

 crystalline form is entirely changed ; in the place of fine needles we have 

 now short, thick prisms with sharply defined summits. It is easily per- 

 ceived that the new cyanuric ether, by an atomic migration within the 

 molecule, which may be represented by the equation 



(cnUq _ (co) 3 i N 



has become converted into the long known ether. If the careful investi- 

 gation of the physical properties were not deemed sufficient proof of this 

 transformation, it would suffice to compare the reactions of the body before 

 and after distillation. Before being distilled, it yields cyanuric acid and 

 methyl alcohol when heated with potash, — 



(CH 3 ) 3 } O. + 8H.0 = (C ^ } 0 3 + 3(CH 3 HO). 



If submitted to the same treatment after distillation, methylamine and 

 carbonic acid are obtained, — 



(CH?J:} N 3 + 3H 2 0 = 3 [W} N] + SCO, 



These experiments are sufficient to establish the nature of the new cya- 

 nuric ether. In order to obtain further data as to the constitution of this 

 body, the changes which it undergoes by the action of ammonia had to be 

 examined. 



Whilst the ether of a monobasic acid, when treated with ammonia gas, 



2 p 2 



