ACENAPHTHENE, an aromatic hydrocarbon first isolated from coal tar by M. P. E. Berthelot and subsequently synthesized from a-ethylnaphthalene. Crystallizing from alcohol in colourless needles, it melts at 95°C. and boils at 278°. Its formula is On oxidation with chromic acid it yields (a) acenaphthenequinone employed in the manufacture of ciba scarlet and other red vat dyes; (b) naphthalic acid, a starting point in the production of perylene vat dyes. (See DYES, SYNTHETIC.) Acenaphthene, which readily undergoes nitration and sulpho nation, forms a characteristic orange picrate melting at I61°. BIBLIOGRAPHY -A. E. Everest, The Higher Hydrocarbons (1927).
(G. T. M.)