ORGANIC BASES. The present remarks must be regarded as supplementary to the article ALKALOIDS. They refer (1) to the classification of organic bases and (2) to their formation.
(1) From the fact that nearly all artificial organic bases are (as will be afterward shown) actually constructed from ammonia, and that whether artificially or naturally formed, they exhibit the property of basicity, which is the leading characteristic of ammonia, chemists have been led to refer organic bases generally to the typical body ammonia, and have succeeded in demonstrating that they are constructed upon or derived from the simple type NHS. Berzelius believed that all the alkaloids actually contained ammonia as an ingredient of their composition, a view which is now unten able; and it is to Liebig that we are indebted for the idea that they are derivatives of ammonia, or, in other words, amidogen bases or ammonia in which an equivalent of hydrogen is replaced by an organic radical. The subject has been thoroughly worked out by Dr. Hofmann, who originally proposed to classify these bodies wider the heads of arnidogen,imidogen, nitrile, and ammonium bases; but afterwards adopted the terms _primary amines, secondary amines, and tertiary amines, in preference to amidogen, imi dogen, and nitrile bases—the word amines being applied to all organic bases that are derived from ammonia The amines may be (1) monamines, (2) diamines, (3) tria mines, (4) tetramines, or (5) pentamines, according as they be constructed upon a single, double, treble, quadruple, or quintuple atom of We shall confine our illustrations of the meaning of these terms to the monamines, both because they form the most important group and because they are much more readily elucidated than the other groups, which are extremely complicated in their composition. Monamines are con structed upon the single atom of ammonia, In primary monamines one of the atoms of hydrogen is replaced by an organic radical, R; and hence their general formula is Ethyl-amine or ethylia or is an example. In secondary monamines two of the atoms of hydrogen are replaced by two atoms of either the same or different radicals. Hence their general formula is RR'IIN, where R and R' may be
the same or different radicals. Diethylia (C,H5)3HN, or ,N, and methyl-ethyl-amine, or methyl-ethylia or C3112N, are examples. In tertiary monamines the three atoms of hydrogen are replaced by three atoms of the same or different radicals; their formula therefore is RR'R"N, when R, R', may or may not differ from one another. Trimethylamine or trimethylia or and methyl-ethyl-phenyl -amine cr or afford examples of le radicals being all the same and of their being all different. This last example affords a good illustration of the fact, that although the modern nomenclature of organic chemis try includes long and apparently complex words, these words to a great degree represent the composition of the substance they are used to indicate; methyl (C3H3), ethyl (C4110, and phenyl mainly contributing, to form methyl-et10-phenylia.
(2.) Although all attempts at forming in the laboratory those alkaloids that naturally exist in plants, such as morphia, quinia, and strychnia, have hitherto failed, a large number of organic bases have been prepared by artificial means, such as: a. By the destructive distillation of organic bodies containing nitrogen. Thus, in the preparation of coal-gas, four at least of these compounds are obtained, viz., aniline, picoline, leukol