196  Non-Acid  Constituents  of  Beeswax.  {AmApS;S7?m' 
NON-ACID  CONSTITUENTS  OF  BEESWAX. 
By  F.  Schwalb. 
Repeated  boiling  with  alcohol  extracts  about  5  per  cent,  of  cerotic 
acid  from  beeswax.  The  residue  is  saponified  with  alcoholic  soda,  and 
after  the  alcohol  has  been  removed  by  distillation  and  by  boiling  with 
water,  the  soap  is  separated  by  the  addition  of  common  salt.  To  re- 
move any  free  alkali,  the  soap  is  pressed  in  a  cloth,  redissolved  in  hot 
water,  and  again  salted  out.  This  operation  is  repeated  several  times. 
The  soap  is  thoroughly  dried  at  110 — 120°,  and  the  non-acid  con- 
stituents are  separated  by  fractional  solution  in,  and  recrystallization 
from,  light  petroleum.  The  most  soluble  portion  of  the  extract,  melt- 
ing between  55°  and  65°,  contains  two  hydrocarbons  ;  one  melting  at 
60*5°  appears  to  be  identical  with  KrafFt's  normal  heptacosane,  C^H^ 
(1882),  and  the  other  which  melts  at  67°,  is  probably  identical  with 
normal  hentriacontane,  C31H64.  It  is  probable  that  other  hydrocar- 
bons are  also  contained  in  the  wax. 
The  myricyl  alcohol  is  less  soluble  in  light  petroleum  than  the 
hydrocarbons.  It  appears  to  have  the  formula  C31H64G,  and  is  not 
identical  with  the  alcohol  C30H62O,  contained  in  carnauba  wax.  It 
melts  at  85 — £5*5°,  and  resolidifies  at  84°.  When  heated  with  soda 
lime,  it  is  converted  into  the  salt  of  an  acid,  C31H6202.  This  acid  is 
sparingly  soluble  in  the  usual  solvents  at  the  ordinary  temperature, 
but  it  dissolves  in  hot  light  petroleum,  and  is  deposited  from  the  solu- 
tion in  white  needle-shaped  crystals,  which  melt  at  88*5 — 89°.  The 
lead  salt  melts  at  115 — 116°,  and  dissolves  freely  in  acetic  acid  and  in 
boiling  toluene.  The  silver  salt  is  amorphous.  It  melts  at  180°, 
with  decomposition.  The  copper  and  magnesium  salts  are  also  amor- 
phous. They  dissolve  in  boiling  benzene.  The  methyl  and  ethyl 
salts  crystallize  in  needles.  They  dissolve  freely  in  warm  ether  and 
warm  alcohol.  The  methyl  salt  melts  at  71 — 71*5°,  and  the  ethyl 
salt  at  6 9 '5 — 70°.  Heated  under  the  ordinary  atmospheric  pressure, 
the  ethyl  salt  decomposes  before  boiling  into  ethylene  and  the  free 
acid. 
Beeswax  also  contains  two  loAver  alcohols,  namely,  ceryl  alcohol, 
C26H540  or  C27H560,  and  an  alcohol  of  the  formula,  C24H50O  or  C^H^ 
O.— Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  Feb.,  1887,  124;  Annalen,  vol.  235, 
p.  106. 
