Mr Jackson, On the condensation of formaldehyde, etc. 117 
On the condensation of formaldehyde and the formation of 
/ 3-acrose . By Henry Jackson, M.A., Downing College. 
[ Received 18 February 1901.] 
An aqueous solution of formaldehyde, obtained by boiling 
paraformaldehyde, was treated with basic lead carbonate and 
heated on a water bath for one hour. After filtering it was 
evaporated in vacuo at 50° C. and the syrup treated with a mixture 
of methyl and ethyl alcohols. The insoluble lead salt was sepa- 
rated and the alcohol distilled off from the sugar. A two per 
cent, aqueous solution of the sugar was heated with phenyl 
hydrazine acetate on the water bath for four hours. The crude 
osazone was boiled with water; and acrosazone (Fischer and 
Passmore, Ber. 1899) remained undissolved. The filtrate from 
this on cooling deposited a mass of fine yellow crystals. These 
were re-crystallised twice again from hot water. This was found 
to be a mixture of osazones which have been separated by a long 
series of fractional precipitations into the following : 
(i) Readily soluble in ether and benzene, ethyl acetate and 
ethyl alcohol. Melting point 131° — 136°. 
(ii) Sparingly soluble in ether and benzene, soluble in ethyl 
acetate. Melting point 158°. This appears identical with the 
/3-acrosazone obtained by the condensation of glycollic aldehyde 
(Fenton and Jackson, Rep. Brit. Ass. 1900; Jackson, J. G. S. 1900) 
and of glycerose (Fischer and Tafel, Ber. 1887 ; Wohl, Ber. 1900). 
(iii) Sparingly soluble in most solvents, but may be re-crystal- 
lised from methyl alcohol. Melting point 194° — 196°. 
