Nitromethane, CH 3 NO 2, is a colourless oil which boils at 101° C. Fuming sulphuric acid decomposes it into carbon monoxide and hydroxylamine.
The anthraquinone so obtained is then heated for some hours at about 150-160° C. with fuming sulphuric acid (containing about 40-50% SO 3), and by this treatment is converted into anthraquinone-O-monosulphonic acid.
Baeyer in 1890, by heating alizarin with fuming sulphuric acid for 24-48 hours at 35-40° C., obtained a product, which after treatment with caustic soda gave a sulphuric acid ester of quinalizarin, and this after acidification and boiling was converted into quinalizarin (Alizarin Bordeaux) or 1.2.6.9 tetra-oxyanthraquinone.
KOnigs, and the observation that anthraquinone yielded oxyanthraquinones when treated in the cold with strong sulphuric acid, and the recent introduction of fuming sulphuric acid for the oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic acid, a process of great value in the manufacture of artificial indigo, may be noted.
Nitromethane, CH 3 NO 2, is a colourless oil which boils at 101° C. Fuming sulphuric acid decomposes it into carbon monoxide and hydroxylamine.