dissociation constants. We thank MY. F. E. Salt and Dr. K. H. W. Turck for their interest in the work described in this series of papers, and the Directors of the Distillers Company Ltd. for permission to publish the results. THE DISTILLERS COMPANY LIMITED, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DEPT.,

The catalytic isomerisation of 1 : 2-epoxy-2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpentane to 2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpentanal has been studied, in the liquid and in the gas phase, and optimum conditions have been determined. The trimethylpentanal can be readily reduced to 2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpentan-1-01 or oxidised to an-trimethylvaleric acid. The isomerisation and hydrogenation can be carried out on the crude oxidation product of diisobutylene without isolation of the intermediate epoxide or aldehyde. A number of amines have been prepared from reductive amination of trimethylpentanal. Catalytic isomerisation of 2 : 3-epoxy-2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpentane yields 2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpent-len-3-o1, 2 : 4 : 4-trimethylpentan-3+ne, and 2 : 2 : 3 : 3tetramethylbutanal. The 1 : 2-epoxide undergoes isomerisation when heated in the absence of catalyst, giving 2-neopentylprop-2-en-1-01; some 2 : 4 : 4trimethylpentan-2-01 is also formed by an unknown mechanism. * Part I, preceding paper.