152 
Acetone  and  Acetone-Chloroform. 
}  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      March.  1896. 
ACETONE-CHLOROFORM. 
The  history  of  acetone-chloroform  dates  distinctly  back  to  1832.  t 
In  the  Annalen  der  Pharmacie,  1 83 2,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  198,  Liebig  de- 
scribes the  preparation  of  chloroform  in  large  quantity,  from  given 
proportions  of  hypochlorite  of  lime,  water  and  alcohol,  and  he 
says  the  yield  will  be  equal  in  weight  to  the  alcohol  used.  He  then 
goes  on  to  say  that  chloroform  may  also  be  obtained  in  large  quan- 
tity by  treating  acetone  with  hypochlorite  of  lime  under  the  same 
conditions. 
Liebig  does  not  give  the  yield  from  acetone ;  but  after  giving  the 
yield  from  alcohol  as  being  equal  in  weight  to  the  alcohol  used,  he 
says  it  is  obtained  in  large  quantity  from  acetone. 
In  1835,  Dumas  and  Peligot1"  state  that  when  a  solution  of  hy- 
pochlorite of  lime  is  distilled  with  wood  spirit  there  is  obtained,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  some  ordinary  chloroform.  The  experiment  is  as 
easy  as  with  alcohol  or  acetone. 
Liebig,  in  his  text-book,11  gives  a  formula  and  directions  for  the 
manufacture  of  chloroform  from  either  acetone,  alcohol  or  wood 
spirit,  and  gives  to  acetone  the  leading  place. 
M.  Bonnet,12  at  a  meeting  of  the  Academy,  says :  "  I  have  ob- 
tained, in  the  distillation  of  equal  parts  of  acetate  of  lime  and  hypo- 
chlorite of  lime,  in  a  stone  retort,  a  very  large  quantity  of  chloroform, 
and  far  more  easily  than  by  the  methods  of  preparation  that  are 
known." 
Dr.  Reich13  proposed  and  used  hypochlorite  of  sodium  in  place  of 
hypochlorite  of  lime,  on  account  of  the  uneven  amount  of  chlorine 
in  the  latter.  He  distilled  together  2  pounds  each  of  hypochlorite 
and  acetate  of  sodium  and  received  5  to  6  drams  of  chloroform  and 
12  to  14  ounces  of  acetone  and  water.  This  latter  was  again  dis- 
tilled with  4  to  6  ounces  of  hypochlorite,  and  again  a  considerable 
amount  of  chloroform  and  acetone  was  received.  The  last  operation 
was  repeated  with  a  new  portion  of  hypochlorite,  and  then  the  total 
amount  of  chloroform  was  8  to  10  ounces,  with  still  some  excess  of 
acetone  for  future  operations. 
Acetone,  when  distilled  with  hypochlorite  of  sodium,  yields  chloro- 
10  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  Vol.  L/VIII,  p.  15. 
11  Traite  de  Chimie  Organiques,  Vol.  I,  p.  576. 
u  I/Institut,  No.  196,  Februar  1837. 
13  Archiv.  der  Pharmacie,  Zweite  Reihe,  1848,  Vol.  LV,  p.  65. 
