486 
Ethyl  Nitrite. 
Ara.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1887. 
Color. — The  weight  of  authority,  and  all  the  standard  chemical 
works  give  the  color  as  a  light  yellow. 
Grosourdy  and  Couerbe,  however,  contradict  this. 
Grosourdy  (Journal  Chimie  medicate,  or  Muspratt's  Chemistry, 
vol.  1,  page  835),  refers  the  color  to  a  hydrocarbon  and  says  it  may 
be  removed  by  repeated  distillation  from  potassium  carbonate. 
Some  ethyl  nitrite  was  prepared  according  to  Grosourdy's  method, 
following  the  process  out  in  every  detail,  a  faintly  yellow  straw-colored 
liquid  was  collected  in  the  receiver ;  when  this  was  shaken  with  ice- 
water,  however,  it  at  once  diminished  in  volume  and  formed  two 
layers,  an  upper  layer  of  a  bright  yellow  color  the  exact  counterpart 
of  ethyl-nitrite,  and  a  lower  colorless  layer,  a  mixture  of  alcohol  and 
water.  This  upper  layer  was  now  subjected  to  six  distillations  with 
potassium  carbonate  ;  the  distillate  kept  growing  lighter  and  lighter, 
until  the  last  ones  were  almost  colorless.  The  boiling  point,  however, 
had  rapidly  risen  to  60°-78°C;  it  burned  and  otherwise  denoted  its 
alcoholic  nature.  If  the  almost  colorless  liquid  be  shaken  with  ice 
water,  or  if  before  each  redistillation,  the  distillates  be  washed  with 
water  a  yellowish  liquid  will  always  separate  out. 
The  decomposition  of  the  ether  by  distillation  with  potassium  car- 
bonate is  well  known  and  was  proven  on  the  ethers  of  all  the  pro- 
cesses. 
Couerbe  said  the  color  was  due  to  an  oil,  which  could  be  removed  by 
successive  distillations  from  sugar. 
For  the  purpose  white  rock-candy  was  powdered  and  boiled  with 
some  ethyl-nitrite,  made  after  Liebig's  method,  in  a  flask,  connected 
with  a  reverse  condenser  for  two  hours,  when  it  was  distilled  off,  and 
the  process  continued  with  a  fresh  portion  of  sugar  and  again  dis- 
tilled off ;  this  was  kept  up  for  a  day,  distilling  four  times,  but  no 
signs  of  a  fading  of  color  presented  themselves. 
BOILING  POINT. 
Liebig  made  the  boiling  point   16'4°C. 
Mohr      "      "      "         "    17'5°— 18°C. 
Brown    "      "      "         "    16-6°— 17'8°C. 
Thenard  "      "      "         "   ....21°C.  at  730  mm.  barometric  pressure. 
Strecker  (Kurze  Organische  Chemie,  2te.  Auflage),  gives  it  at 
16°  C. 
The  following  method  was  used  in  determining  the  boiling  point : 
