The first recorded reference to divinyl ether occurs in a paper by "On the Ethereal Oil of Allium Ursinum L." The divinyl sulfide, which was obtained from the essential oil of this plant, when treated with silver oxide yielded a low-boiling, sulfur-free liquid, the boiling point of which was about 39°. Two determinations of the molecular weight corresponded with the calculated value for divinyl ether. Semmler did not further characterize this liquid.An attempt to prepare divinyl ether by the exhaustive methylation of morpholine was made by Knorr and Matthes.2 A few drops of liquid were obtained but the quantity was insufficient for either an analysis or a determination of its boiling point.Cretcher, Koch and Pittenger3 attempted to prepare divinyl ether by the action of heated sodium hydroxide on ß, /3 '-dichlorodiethyl ether. The reaction was carried out in an iron pot surmounted by a Crismer column. The distillate came over at 84-85°.' From it they were able to isolate /3-chloroethyl vinyl ether, 1,4-dioxane, acetaldehyde and a "divinyl ether" which boiled at 39°. The yield of material that boiled at 39°was 4.7% of the amount that would have been expected if the conversion of the i8,/3'-dichloroethyl ether into divinyl ether had been complete. These authors evidently abandoned the attempt to prepare pure divinyl ether since they gave no properties of their product except its boiling point. The acetaldehyde formed in this reaction amounted to twice the weight of the material that boiled at 39°.Hibbert, Perry and Taylor4 modified the method of the previous authors. They replaced the Crismer column with a reflux condenser kept at 40°; they used potassium hydroxide rather than sodium hydroxide, added the ß,ß'-dichlorodiethyl ether in small portions and lastly increased the time of heating. They obtained a 54.9% yield of a "divinyl ether" which boiled at 34-5°. Presumably, further details are contained in Canadian Patent Application 350,357.6 On brommating the material that boiled at 34-5°these authors obtained a compound, tetrabromoethyl ether, which melted at 63-64°and was identical with Freundler's "tetrabromobutyraldehyde."6 This was shown by analysis and by a mixed melting point.

Ethyl /3-phenyl-/3-hydroxypropionate has been dehydrated in the presence of either sodium triphenylmethyl or sodium ethoxide at room temperature.It has been shown that phenylbenzylcarbinol is not dehydrated by sodium amide at room temperature.The mechanism of elimination of water from organic compounds by means of bases is discussed.

Campesterol has been isolated recently from a number of botanically unrelated plant species.Rapeseed, soybean and wheat-germ oils are readily available sources of this newly characterized sterol. Analyses of campesterol and its derivatives, particularly those of the w-dinitrobenzoate, are consistent with the empirical formula CígHígO. A perbenzoic acid titration of the sterol showed the presence of a single double bond.2The carbon skeleton of campesterol lacking a portion of the side chain was determined by the isolation of ¡S-S-hydroxy-Tzor-aZZo-cholanic acid (I)

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