846 
NOTES AND ABSTEACTS IN CHEMISTEY AND PHAEMACY. 
Alcoholate of Chloral. 
The following abstract is taken from the report of a commission appointed 
by the Societe de Pharmacie of Paris, to inquire into the cause of the differences 
in the characters presented by the chloral hydrate prepared according to the 
respective methods of MM. Roussin and Personne. 
The preparation obtained by the former of these two chemists is now declared 
to be a compound not of water but of alcohol with the anhydrous chloral. It 
can be prepared with great facility by a method similar to that adopted for the 
production of the hydrate; that is to say, one molecule of the anhydrous 
chloral (147| parts) is added to one molecule of absolute alcohol (46 parts). 
The combination is effected with the disengagement of considerable heat, 
and the product on cooling solidifies, after a few minutes’ agitation, to a mass 
of crystals. 
The amount of chlorine in this compound was found by experiment 55 
and 55*43 per cent. 
The formula, C 2 H Cl s O, C n H 6 0, requires 55*0, whilst that of the hydrate, 
C 2 HC1 3 0, HoO, requires 64 : 3 per cent. On distilling the hydrate with water 
and caustic potash, a distillate was obtained, which, after removal of the whole 
of the chloroform produced, was found to consist solely of pure water ; whilst 
the alcoholate yielded a liquid in the receiver, which, after separation of the last 
traces of chloroform, yielded a proportion of alcohol corresponding very nearly 
with the amount, 23*7 per cent., indicated by theory as resulting from the de¬ 
composition of the body already formulated; C 2 IIC1 3 0, C 2 H 6 0-j-KHO, 
yielding _ ^ 
C 2 IIC1 3 + KCH0 2 + C 2 H fi O. 
Chloroform. Formate of Potash. Alcohol. 
The alcoholate melts at a temperature a little above the fusion-point of the 
hydrate. Between the boiling-points there is a greater interval; the hydrate 
boiling at about 97° C., the alcoholate at about 113*5 ; and whilst the density 
of the hydrate is 1*57, that of the alcoholate is 1*34. 
Add to these characters the differences observable in crystalline structure—the 
hydrate deliquescent, and having somewhat the aspect of loaf-sugar ; the alco¬ 
holate consisting of much larger and translucent crystals, which do not abstract 
moisture,—and it will be easy to distinguish these two bodies from each other. 
It is worthy of observation, that whilst the hydrate contains 88*8 per cent, 
of chloral, the alcoholate contains only 76*3 per cent., and is, therefore, pro¬ 
bably less active than the hydrate. 
Tetrabromide of Carbon. 
At a recent meeting of the Chemical Society, the discovery of the tetra¬ 
bromide of carbon was announced by Messrs. Bolas and C. E. Groves. This 
compound is obtained by several processes:—(1) by heating bisulphide of 
carbon in a sealed tube with bromide of iodine; (2) by digesting bromopicrm 
(CBr NO,) with bromide of iodine in a flask furnished with a condensing tube; 
(3) by heating bromoform (CHBr 3 ) with bromide of iodine in a sealed tube. 
The product is obtained in a pure state by distillation. It is a white substance, 
crystallizing in plates, melting at 91= C., of an ethereal odour, somewhat re¬ 
sembling that of tetrachloride of carbon, and sweetish taste. It is not soluble 
in water, but dissolves in ether, alcohol, bisulphide of carbon,, chloroform, 
bromoform, benzol, and American oil. Sodium amalgam reduces it to bromo¬ 
form, and then into dibromide of methylene. 
