4288. Nitrous Ether

4288.    Nitrous Ether. Nitrous or hypo-nitrous ether has a pale yellow color, boils at 62° Fahr.; at 60° its specific gravity is .947 ; it is very volatile. Take starch, 1 part; nitric acid, specific gravity 1.30, 10 parts; alcohol of 85 per cent., 2 parts; water, 1 part; introduce the starch and acid into a capacious retort connected with a wide tube 2 or 3 feet long, bent at right angles, and terminating near the bottom of a two-necked bottle, containing the alcohol and water mixed together, and surrounded with a freezing mixture or very cold water. The other neck of the bottle must be connected by a wide and long glass tube, with a good refrigerator or condenser. The heat of a water-bath must be cautiously applied to the retort, when pure hyponitrous acid will be set free, and, passing into the alcohol, will form hyponitrite of oxide of ethyl (ether), which will distill in a gentle stream. The tube connecting the retort and bottle must be cooled by means of a rag or moist paper, wetted from time to time with ice-cold water; for if the tube and the alcohol be not carefully cooled, the latter becomes spontaneously hot, and boils violently, when the product is vitiated. This process is very productive and economical, and yields perfectly pure hyponitrous ether. (Licbig.)

4289. Sweet Spirit of Nitre

4289.    Sweet Spirit of Nitre. This is an alcoholic solution of nitrous ether. The mixture should have, according to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, a specific gravity of .837. It becomes acid by age.

4290. Hydrochloric Ether

4290.     Hydrochloric Ether. This is the chloride of ethyl, and is distilled in a retort, from rectified spirit of wine saturated with dry hydrochloric acid gas. (Thenard directs equal volumes of concentrated hydrochloric acid and absolute alcohol.) The retort is connected with a Wolffe's apparatus, the first bottle of which should be two-thirds full of tepid water (70u to 75° Fahr.), and the remainder surrounded with salt and ice. To render it perfectly anhydrous, it must be digested on a few fragments of fused chloride of calcium. (Cooley.)

4291. Acetic Ether

4291.    Acetic Ether. This is a colorless fluid, and bears a considerable resemblance to sulphuric ether, of which it is strictly an acetate. Liebig assigns it a specific gravity of .89 at 60° Fahr., dissolving in 7 times its bulk of water; Ure gives it a specific gravity of .866 at 45°, dissolving in 8 parts water. It is decomposed by alkalies and strong acids. (Cooley.) It is also called acetate of ethyl.

4292. To Obtain Acetic Ether

4292.    To Obtain Acetic Ether. Mix together 3 parts acetate of potassa (or an equivalent quantity of acetate of soda (see No. 80 (Table of Equivalents of Alkalis)), 3 parts 85 per cent, alcohol, and 2 parts strongest oil of vitriol. Distill them in a glass retort or earthenware still, connected with a well-cooled receiver; agitate the product with a little water, to remove undecom-posed alcohol, then digest it with a little chalk, to remove acidity, and afterwards with fused chloride of calcium, to absorb water. Lastly, rectify by a gentle heat. (Fownes.)