154 
Acetanilid  and  Phenacetin. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1907. 
In  order  to  prepare  the  acetanilid  content  of  this  mixture  for  the 
saponification,  the  following  procedure  was  adopted  : 
Of  the  elixir  150  c.c.  were  evaporated  on  the  water-bath  at  a  low 
temperature  to  remove  all  alcohol.  The  residue  was  shaken  out  four 
times  with  chloroform  and  the  completeness  of  the  extraction  of 
acetanilid  was  checked  by  means  of  the  iso-nitrile  test.  The  united 
chloroform  solutions  were  evaporated  to  a  small  volume  in  an  Erlen- 
meyer  flask  on  the  water-bath,  taking  care  that  no  active  ebullition 
occurred  during  the  process  of  concentration.  The  last  portions  of 
chloroform  were  driven  off  by  means  of  repeated  addition  and 
distillation  of  small  portions  of  ether.  (The  complete  removal  of 
chloroform  is  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  the  production  of  the 
disagreeable  odor  of  phenyl  isocyanide  during  the  next  step  of 
saponification.)  The  resulting  impure  acetanilid  was  then  saponified 
and  the  product  of  the  reaction  treated  further,  as  per  the  process 
given  above. 
The  results  obtained  were  as  follows  : 
I.  Acetanilid  present,  1*4205  gramme  ;  amount  found,  1*470  gramme. 
II.  Acetanilid  present,  1*4205  gramme  ;  amount  found,  1*425  gramme. 
II.  a  MIXTURE  OF  ACETANILID  AND  SALOL. 
This  is  a  mixture  very  much  used  in  medicine,  and  the  determi- 
nation of  acetanilid  in  it  is  of  special  interest  in  that  it  so  well  shows 
the  general  practicability  of  the  method  proposed  by  us.  The  diffi- 
culty which  here  presents  itself  lies  in  the  fact  that  while  saponi- 
fying the  acetanilid,  the  salol  is  also  saponified,  and  when  the  mix- 
ture is  acidified  with  phosphoric  acid  and  distilled,  phenol  comes 
over  together  with  acid,  and  may  interfere  with  the  titration.  We 
therefore  used  the  following  modification  of  the  method  outlined 
above  : 
After  the  saponified  mixture  was  acidulated  with  phosphoric  acid, 
it  was  shaken  out  once  with  ether.  All  phenol  was  thus  removed, 
but  in  order  to  avoid  loss  of  acetic  acid,  the  ethereal  solution  was 
shaken  out  three  times  with  water,  and  the  washings  united  with 
the  original  acid  solution.  The  distillation  with  steam  was  then 
conducted  in  the  usual  way,  and  the  distillate  titrated. 
The  following  results  were  obtained  : 
I.  Amount  taken,  acetanilid  i*o  gramme  and  salol  ro  gramme  ;  acetanilid 
found,  1*003  grammes* 
