Amyl — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Amyl, $C_5H_{11}$ , is the fifth in the series of alcohol radicals whose general formula is $C_nH_{2n+1}$ , and of which methyl and ethyl are the first two members. It is obtained by heating amyl-iodide with an amalgam of zinc in a closed tube at a temperature of about $350^\circ F.$ ( $177^\circ C.$ ), and is one of the natural products of the distillation of coal. As thus obtained, it represents two molecules of the radical united together, and usually goes by the name diamyl, $(C_5H_{11})_2$ . The single molecule, $C_5H_{11}$ , has not been produced. Diamyl is a colourless liquid, with a specific gravity of $.770$ at $52^\circ F.$ ( $11^\circ C.$ ), and a boiling-point of about $316^\circ F.$ ( $158^\circ C.$ ). It has an agreeable smell and burning taste. It enters into a large number of chemical compounds, most of which—as, for instance, bromide, chloride, iodide, &c.—are derived from amylic alcohol, which bears precisely the same relation to amyl that ordinary alcohol bears to ethyl, $C_2H_5$ . Amylic alcohol is sufficiently described in the article FUSEL OIL, which is the name given to the crude alcohol. It seems invariably to accompany ordinary alcohol when the latter is prepared by fermentation, and apparently occurs in largest quantity in those liquids which remain most alkaline during fermentation.