XVII.—Electrolytic Synthesis of Dibasic Acids

In our former paper we described the results obtained by electrolysing concentrated aqueous solutions of the ethyl-potassium salts of normal saturated dibasic acids. The chief products were shown to be diethyl compound ethers of the same homologous series, and the formation of these compound ethers was shown to occur in accordance with the equation: 2C2H5·O·ĊO·R˝·CO·O- = C2H5·O·CO·R˝R˝CO·O·C2H5 + 2CO2. We now find that precisely similar results are obtained by electrolysing the corresponding compounds derived from saturated dibasic acids with side chains. We have thus been able to effect the synthesis of acids of the succinic acid series, in which hydrogen is symmetrically replaced by alcohol radicals of the form CnH2n+1.