The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-02-19
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
The Future of organic Chemistry.

young chemists need not despair OF ind /
ing new compounds for centuries to /
come. The number of new bodies pre- |
pared annually viii probably not exceed |
1000, but each year will see these num-
bers grow. OF all these new products |
less than 5 per cent. have any so-called |
practical. e., cOmmercial-value. a /
majority, in fact, are never seen again |
outside of the laboratory where they are |
discovered, are never heard of after the |
first description has gone the rounds of /
the chemical journals, and been finally |
registered in the big yearbook, or |
Jahresbericht, into which are annually |
posted abstracts of all the minor entries |
that have been made in the various day
books and blotters throughout the world |
Yet each little discovery, insignificant
though it may appear, every new body,
useless as it may seem, is valuable.
They are the bricks and stones from
which a grand and imposing edifice is
to be built, and, while they may be al
lowed to lie for years in the rubbish
heap, they will one day be sought out
to fill their destined place in the struc-
ture. 1t is one mans place to provide
the material, another to arrange them
in position. AS yet the outlines of the
bnilding are scarcely discernible; here a
gap. In one place an imperfect founda-
ton is settling and threatening ruin to
the stories above: portions of it will
need rebuilding; new corner-stones are
needed here and there; the glitteung
pinnacles have been misplaced, an over
hanging turret threatens the paSSer-by.
Future architects will change the plans,
attempt new designs, but complete sue
cess is possible only after all the ma
terial is on the ground. Let no investi-
gator feel that his little contribution is
of no value; it may yet occupy a far
more important position than those
which for the p1 sent serve as capstones
and cOrnice.
| Aside from the theoretical value which
attaches to these soon-to-be-forgotte
| compounds, it is worth while to prepare
| them and to study their properties care
| fully; it is impossible to prOphesy what
technical value they may possess or to
what they may lead.
The question is often asked, Shall we
ever be able to make the valuable aka
lOids, particularly quinineP Is it too
soon to answer this question. A few
years ago the sYnthese of cOniine was
announced, but it proved to be an isOm-
eric body, a paraconiine. The next
]
other alkaIoids may follow. The recent
success of an American in Paris, who
prepared the glucosides alphabetically,
marks an important epoch in syntheti-
cal chemistry. The synthesis of cane
sugar will probably follow, and who can
say where this will lead to? Since the
day when WOehler first made artificial
urea, many useful forms of synthesis
have been devised. OF these the most
important commercially was the manu-
facture of artificial alizarine. Agricul-
ture as well as technical industry was
affected by it. KOlbe's synthesis of sail
cylic acid has proved boon to suffer
ing humanity. Tenants synthesis of
vanilline, although much talked of, was
necessarily of less importance from the
relative small consumption of this flavor.
Bayer's recent synthesis of indigo is of
no Importance to the dyer at present,
because his method is too circuitOus and
expensive, but it is no less the great
achievement of a master mind. Another
may modify his method and make it
profitable.
The first step in the successful imita-
ton of natural product is to
ascertain with certainty its con-
stitution, into what products ii
is most easily separated, and
how these again break up into simpler
ones already known. Kobe knew that
salicylic acid could be readily converted
into carbolic acid, carbOnic acid being
liberated. He reasoned then, that if he
could make carbonic acid act upon and
combine with carbolic acid, salicyic
acid would probably result. By the in.
tervention of metallic sodium the reac-
ton was accomplished, but sodium is toe
- s.,
hence he sought and found a cheaper
one in caustic soda; what the latter
lacked in energy was compensated fol
by simply raising the temperature.
The conversion of cane sugar into
grape-sugar (glucose) is a very simple
affair, and has long been understood.
The operation seems to consist in the
abstraction of the elements of water
Could we not add the elements of water
to grape sugar and convert it into cane
sugar? As yet it has not been accom-
plished. The grape sugar has no desire
to enter into q partnership with water
on such terms as to form cane sugar
Carbon is q queer element, and we car
not always comprehend its idiOsyncra-
sizes. Any body can convert a diamond
! into charcoal; no man has yet converted
charcoal into diamonds. Yet why, we
do not know.
Bayer's synthesis of indigo blue fur
nishes a most instructive example of re
l versed operations 1t had long beer
I known that when indigo is oxidized will
nitric acid GsGtine is formed. So Bave1
, reasoned from this that he must be able
; TO reduce isatine to indigo blue, and il
! this he succeeded by the aid of phos
Z phorus and chloride of phosphorus
The next step was to prepare the isatine
0Gi3dOLe can be made from isatine
therefore Bayer thought he could max.
J iSatine from OXindOle, and after a few
unsuccessful efforts he finally succeeded
in making isatine. This completed hi
, research, for he had already made oxin
! dole from phenylacetic acid, which il
l turn is made from some of the coal-ta
: products. The synthesis is complete
although tedious.
In addition to the wide field of pur
synthetical chemistry, where coal tar i
converted into true limitations of nature
own products, a field as yet but it'll
cultivated, there is another scarcely We
explOred-the conversion of one natura
product into another and more valuabl
one, through purely chemical means
The conversion of starch into sugar, ant
that again into alcohol, is one which ma
tUlre suggested and in which she assists
. Sawdust is converted into oxalic aci,
and old rags into sweet sirups but ther
are still other problems awaiting solU
! ton. Stearic acid is much more valua
n bic than Oleic. Who will convert tn
latter into the former? Oil of turpentin
L is isomeric with oils of bergamont
lemon, and lavender. Who will trans
} pose the first into the others?
; 1t can not be denied that men hav
: spent years-nay, ifetime-On fruit
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