Acenaphthene
ACENAPHTHENE, C12H10, a hydrocarbon isolated from the fraction of coal-tar boiling at 260 deg. -270 deg. by M. P. E. Berthelot, who, in conjunction with Bardy, afterwards synthesized it from a-ethyl naphthalene (Ann. Chem. Phys., 1873, Yol. xxix.). It forms white needles (from alcohol), melts at 95 deg. and boils at 278 deg. . Oxidation gives naphthalic acid (1.8 naphthalene dicathoxylic acid).
Acenaphthalene, C12 H8, a hydrocarbon crystallizing in yellow tables and obtained by passing the vapour of acenaphthene over heated litharge. Sodium amalgam reduces it to acenaphthone; chromic acid oxidizes it to naphthalic acid.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
