134 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
XI. — The Reaction between Sodamide and Hydrogen. By 
F. D. Miles, B.Sc., A.R.C.S. Communicated by Principal 
A. P. Laurie, D.Sc. 
(MS. received January 16, 1915. Read March 1, 1915.) 
In some experiments on sodamide carried out at 200°, in which an 
attempt was made to use hydrogen as an indifferent atmosphere, it was 
found that a slow but constant evolution of ammonia took place. The 
sodamide being isolated from the glass tube in which it was heated, by 
silver foil, the formation of ammonia could not be due to a reaction between 
the glass and the sodamide. 
Titherley, who investigated the alkali amides, noticed the use of 
hydrogen as an indifferent gas and concluded that it had no considerable 
action on sodamide at 300° C. He states : ‘‘ In one experiment a weighed 
quantity, 0'8791 gram, was prepared in a platinum-lined stopcock tube 
and heated at various temperatures during known intervals of time. The 
experiment was conducted at the ordinary pressure in an atmosphere of 
puriffed dry hydrogen. On keeping the amide at a temperature of 300- 
350° for one hour, only 0'8 c.c. of gas was evolved, the sodamide remaining 
unchanged. Even when heated at 450° the decomposition was scarcely 
appreciable, gas being evolved extremely slowly, in an hour only 8T c.c. 
being given off* ; the gas consisted chieffy of ammonia, with a little 
hydrogen and nitrogen.”^ This small quantity of gas corresponds to a 
decomposition of only 0'09 per cent. Titherley explained its evolution by 
the volatilisation of sodamide on to the glass and the ensuing reaction. 
Preliminary experiments proved that if 0‘3 gram of sodamide were 
heated in a stream of pure hydrogen, 30 c.c. or more of ammonia could be 
obtained in an hour, even at 230°, and that a white crystalline deposit 
sublimed on to the cooler parts of the tube. On plunging the boat con- 
taining the sodamide into water a copious evolution took place of a gas 
which proved to be hydrogen. 
This result could be explained if sodamide decomposed on simple heating 
with formation of ammonia. Such an explanation was shown to be 
untenable by heating pure sodamide, obtained by a method to be described 
later, in a current of pure nitrogen at 250°. No ammonia was given off*. In 
addition, it has been shown by Titherley that the amide does not decompose 
* Trans. Ghem. Soc., 1897, vol. Ixv, p. 509. 
