Treat this to soda-water and it
is transformed into salicylic acid, a white odorless powder, used as a
preservative and as a rheumatism remedy. Add to this methyl alcohol
which is obtained by the destructive distillation of wood and is much
more poisonous than ordinary ethyl alcohol. The alcohol and the acid
heated together will unite with the aid of a little sulfuric acid and we
get what the chemist calls methyl salicylate and other people call oil
of wintergreen, the same as is found in wintergreen berries and birch
bark. We have inherited a taste for this from our pioneer ancestors and
we use it extensively to flavor our soft drinks, gum, tooth paste and
candy, but the Europeans have not yet found out how nice it is.
But, starting with phenol again, let us heat it with caustic alkali and
chloroform. This gives us two new compounds of the same composition, but
differing a little in the order of the atoms. If you refer back to the
diagram of the benzene ring which I gave in the last chapter, you will
see that there are six hydrogen atoms attached to it.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165