By passing the vapour of this compound through a red-hot tube, it yields the isomeric a0- pyridylpyrrol, the potassium salt of which with methyl iodide gives a substance methylated both in the pyridine and pyrrol nuclei.
The same methyl iodide gave with potassium cyanide, acetonitril, which was hydrolysed to acetic acid; this must be C(Coch) a H b H c H d.
Bamberger opposed Claus' formula on the following grounds: - The molecule of naphthalene is symmetrical, since 2.7 dioxynaphthalene is readily esterified by methyl iodide and sulphuric acid to a dimethyl ether; and no more than two mono-substitution derivatives are known.
When methyl iodide is used, nitromethane is the sole product, but the higher homologues give more or less of the isomeric nitrous esters.
The silver salt, obtained by shaking an ether solution of nitroform with freshly prepared, slightly moist silver oxide, reacts with methyl iodide to form trinitroethane, a crystalline solid which melts at 56° C. Concentrated caustic potash decomposes the latter compound, forming the potassium salt of dinitroethane, CH3 C(N02)2K.