omewhat vague statements of
Schutzenberger's researches which are current in the text-books [e.g.
Beilstein, 1 ed. p. 586] together with the statement that reaction only
occurs at elevated temperatures (180 deg.). As a matter of fact, reaction
takes place at the boiling temperature of the anhydride. We have
obtained the following results with bleached cotton:

Yield Calc. for Monoacetate
C_{6}H_{7}O_{4}O.C_{2}H_{3}O

Ester reaction 121 p.ct. 125 p.ct.

{Cellulose 79.9 79.9
Saponification {
{Acetic acid 29.9 29.4

This product is formed without apparent structural alteration of the
fibre. It is entirely insoluble in all the ordinary solvents of the
higher acetates. Moreover, it entirely resists the actions of the
special solvents of cellulose--e.g. zinc chloride and cuprammonium. The
compound is in other respects equally stable and inert. The hygroscopic
moisture under ordinary atmospheric conditions is 3.2 p.ct.

_Tetracetate._--This product is now made on the manufacturing scale: it
has yet to establish its industrial value.

NITRIRUNG VON KOHLENHYDRATEN.

W. WILL und P. LENZE (Berl. Ber., 1898, 68).

~NITRATES OF CARBOHYDRATES.~

(p. 38) The authors have studied the nitric esters of a typical series
of the now well-defined carbohydrates--pentoses, hexoses, both aldoses
and ketoses--bioses and trioses, the nitrates being prepared under
conditions designed to produce the highest degree of esterification.
Starch, wood, gum, and cellulose were also included in the
investigations. The products were analysed and their physical properties
determined. They were more especially investigated in regard to
temperatures of decomposition, which were found to lie considerably
lower than that of the cellulose nitrates. They also show marked and
variable instability at 50 deg. C. A main purpose of the inquiry was to
throw light upon a probable cause of the instability of the cellulose
nitrates, viz. the presence of nitrates of hydrolysed products or
carbohydrates of lower molecular weight.

The most important results are these:

_Monoses._--The _aldoses_ are fully esterified, in the pentoses 4 OH, in
the hexoses 5 OH groups reacting. The pentose nitrates are comparatively
stable at 50 deg.; the hexose nitrates on the other hand are extre