The products were precipitated by water and purified by solution in acetone from which two fractions were recovered, the one being relatively insoluble in ethyl alcohol. The various nitrates from the several original products proved to be of almost identical composition,
C 32.0 H 4.2 N 8.8
with a molecular weight approximately 1350. The conclusion is that these products are all derivatives of a 'hydralcellulose' 6 C6H10O5H2O.
FORMATION OF FURFURALDEHYDE FROM CELLULOSE, OXYCELLULOSE, AND HYDROCELLULOSE.
By Leo Vignon (Compt. rend., 1898, 126, 1355-1358).
(p. 54) Hydrocellulose, oxycellulose, and 'reduced' cellulose, the last named being apparently identical with hydrocellulose, were obtained by heating carefully purified cotton wool (10 grams) in water (1,000 c.c.), with (1) 65 c.c. of hydrochloric acid (1.2 sp.gr.), (2) 65 c.c. of hydrochloric acid and 80 grams of potassium chlorate, (3) 65 c.c. of hydrochloric acid and 50 grams of stannous chloride. From these and some other substances, the following percentage yields of furfuraldehyde were obtained: Hydrocellulose, 0.854; oxycellulose, 2.113; reduced cellulose, 0.860; starch, 0.800; bleached cotton, 1.800; oxycellulose, prepared by means of chromic acid, 3.500. Two specimens of oxycellulose were prepared by treating cotton wool with hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate (A), and with sulphuric acid and potassium dichromate (B), and 25 grams of each product digested with aqueous potash. Of the product A, 16.20 grams were insoluble in potash, 2.45 grams were precipitated on neutralisation of the alkaline solution, and 6.35 grams remained in solution, whilst B yielded 11.16 grams of insoluble matter, 1.42 grams were precipitated by acid, and 12.42 grams remained in solution. The percentage yields of furfuraldehyde obtained from these fractions were as follows: A, insoluble, 0.86; precipitated, 4.35; dissolved, 1.10. B, insoluble, 0.76; precipitated, 5.11; dissolved, 1.54. It appears, from the foregoing results, that the cellulose molecule, after oxidation, is easily decomposed by potash, the insoluble and larger portion having all the characters of the original cellulose, whilst the soluble portion is of an aldehydic nature, and contains a substance, precipitable by acids, which yields a relatively large amount of furfuraldehyde.
UNTERSUCHUNGEN ÜBER DIE OXYCELLULOSE.
O. v. Faber und B. Tollens (Berl. Ber., 1899, 2589).
Investigations of Oxycellulose.
(p. 61) The author's results are tersely summed up in the following conclusions set forth at the end of the paper: The oxycelluloses are mixtures of cellulose and a derivative oxidised compound which contains one more atom O than cellulose (cellulose = C6H10O5), and for which the special designation Celloxin is proposed.