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A study was made of the products formed by treating brown coal or lignin with concentrated aqueous or ethanolic alkali at 200 C. With brown coals a major redistribution of the oxygen-containing functional groups appeared to occur, because the products contained aliphatically linked carboxyl groups and aliphatic hydroxyl, as well as phenolic hydroxyl groups. The behaviour of lignin under the same conditions was less clear but sufficiently similar to that of brown coal to suggest that reactions of the same type were occurring in both cases. Reactions involving decarboxylation, ring scission of dihydric phenol structures, and subsequent hydrogenation are suggested tentatively as the main steps in the formation of the products. The results provide some additional evidence for the view that there is a simple chemical relation between Victorian brown coal and lignin.

The infra-red spectra of two softwood lignins are discussed with reference to the spectra of their acetyl and methoxyl derivatives. The spectra of the respective acetyl derivatives provide conclusive evidence for the presence of both phenolic and alcoholic groups in lignin and oxidized lignin, and of alcoholic groups only in the methoxyl derivatives of both these samples. Treatment of lignin with hydriodic acid in the conventional Zeisel determination of methoxyl groups eliminates the alcoholic hydroxyl groups and appears to split aliphatic ether linkages. The spectrum of lignin treated with hydriodic acid is very similar to that of brown coal, which supports previous chemical evidence that brown coal appears to be essentially " demethylated dehydrated lignin ". The progress of the isolation of lignin from wood was followed by infra-red spectroscopy.

When nitrobenzene reacts with iodosobenzene dibenzoate both nitrodiphenyls and nitrophenyl benzoates are formed. Isomer ratios are reported and discussed. The reactions of iodosobenzene dibenzoate, di-p-toluate and dianisate with chlorobenzene have been investigated. The relative yields of the various products have been determined.

Quantitative product studies under varying conditions are reported for the systems named in the title to the present paper. The results obtained lend further support to our previous conclusion that benzoyl peroxide is not a suitable reagent for evaluation of reactivities towards free radicals (Pausacker 1957). Isomer ratios in the (mono-) phenylation and benzoyloxylation of naphthalene by benzoyl peroxide are reported and discussed.

A quantitative study of the products from the reaction of benzene with benzoyl peroxide, under varying conditions, is reported. The mechanisms of formation of the various products are discussed.