XXII. On some new ethyl-compounds containing the alkalimetals

Abstract

The very remarkable composition and properties of that class of substances comprehending kakodyl and zinc-ethyl, have justly attached no ordinary degree of interest to the so-called organo-metallic compounds. Influenced by that interest, I was led to inquire whether the series might not include members into whose composition the alkali-metals entered. It was a question whether combination between so powerfully electro-positive a body as potassium or sodium on the one hand, and a hydrocarbon radical on the other, did not involve impossible conditions. It seemed that the answer to this query would not be valueless as a contribution to the store of facts out of which we may hope some day to evoke the conditions of chemical combination.