...AMONG
SOME
3500
Extramural apathy . . .
Behind the quotes . . .
There was an inquiry from a customer as to whether we could supply isatoic anhydride : ο
"s-Diphenylcarbazone" (Eastman 4459) appears in our catalog with a cynical pair of quotation marks around it. The punctuation betokens our essential honesty, indicating we know that Eastman 4459 is not really s-diphenylcarbazone. It is a double compound of s-diphenylcarbazone
Too frequently, perhaps, such an inquiry piques our curiosity enough to try out an idea or two. First thing we know, there is the compound, purified and in a bottle on the shelf. So we write back and tell the inquirer that we have it now, then find he doesn't really want it—just wonder ing if we could supply it, which is his privilege. That is how Isatoic Anhy dride came into our list as Eastman 6975. There, presently, one of our own chemists from another part of the enterprise noticed it and put in a requisition for a few grams. Shortly afterwards another of our labora tories wanted some. Then another internal requisition, and another. Apathetic though the rest of the world might be about Isatoic Anhy dride, it was apparently doing us good inside. Surely we are not alone in our in terest in this echo of Baeyer's work of eighty years ago on indigo chemistry. Isatoic Anhydride, a creamy powder melting at 240 C with decomposition. The name, easily misread, is from isatis, Greek for woad. A little birdie called Org. Reac. has told us that the
and s-diphenylcarbazide. Sure, we can separate them, but that would greatly bump up the price of the reagent. Outmoded though the philosophy may be, we still feel that the cost of a reagent is of some prac tical importance. Besides, we're not so sure that separation of the com ponents of this reagent would be a good idea. After all, analysts have been buy ing it from us for years for argentometric titration of cyanides and mercurimetric titration of chlorides in biological fluids. To confuse the name of this tried and true reagent just be cause some academically minded or ganic chemists happen to know that in half the molecules the nitrogen bond has been reduced—that strikes us as a dirty trick. Nothing (short of selling you 10 grams of "s-Diphenylcarbazone" for $3) would make us happier than sending you abstracts of the pro cedures for free. Potassium trap . . .
grouping, which is characteristic of isatoic anhydrides as a class, reacts with hydrazine to make an excellent source of hydrazides of certain amino acids. Of course, what we are discuss ing here is only the parent member of the isatoic anhydride series and that doesn't make a particularly in teresting amino acid hydrazide.
The ominously nitro-begirt aspect of this mojecule should not be allowed to divert attention from its useful and unusual ability to precipitate po tassium selectively from solution. Its
Eastman Organic
DPi
Also... vitamins
Distillation Products Industries V O L U M E 27, NO. 1, J A N U A R Y
1955
A
and
ORGANICS
"trivial" name of dipicrylamine sug gests a sensitive nature like that of picric acid and the even more sensi tive ammonium salt of that acid. Di picrylamine may not be quite so ready to yield up its potential energy with violent rapidity. All the same, our man who prepares it by further nitrating dinitrodiphenylamine (and anyone who uses it) is well advised to keep his mind on his work. When he has finished purifying it to analytical grade, he labels it 2,2',4,4',6,6'Hexanitrodiphenylamine and num bers it Eastman 4402. There is an ab stract we give away on gravimetric, acidimétrie, and colorimetric procedures with this reagent in the determination of potassium. All this is brought to mind by a recent editorial in a British industrial magazine, captioned "Winning potash from the sea." It is about the use of this very compound on a large industrial scale. The calcium salt is added to sea water in an amount almost equivalent to the potassium content of the water. Potassium dipicrylaminate is thereby precipitated and then treated with acid to liberate the dipicrylamine for reuse. Such a process hardly needs the purity that brings the price of Eastman 4402 up to $1.75 for 10 grams, but the editorial set us to wondering whether all the biologists and physiologists interested in the potassium balance of life know it is that easy to pick out potassium ions at will. On and on and on we could go, there being some 3500 Eastman Organic Chemicals to talk about. Diversity is our forte, to say nothing of trustworthiness. List No. 39 is our latest, and it will be sent without charge upon application to Distillation Products Industries, Eastman Organic Chemicals Department, Rochester 3, Ν. Υ. Prices quoted are subject to change without
Chemicals
Ε in b u l k . . . d i s t i l l e d
is a division
of
notice.
m on o g l y c e r i d e s
Eastman Kodak Company 55 A
