This alcohol may be obtained by the action cf anltydrous aldehyde on zinc ethyl, as explained in the general methods for preparing secondary alcohols (p. 120). Alternatively, normal butyl alcohol may be taken as the starting point, and converted into thesecondary alcohol by the general method described in Chapter III (The General Chemistry Of The Alcohols); namely, by first forming butylene, adding hydrogen iodide to this to give the iodide, and then hydrolysing the latter. According to Roscoe and Schorlemmer,2 the alcohol was first obtained by De Luynes, who prepared the iodide by heating the sugar erythritol with hydriodic acid, afterwards converting the iodide into the corresponding acetic ester by the action of silver acetate, and hydrolysing the ester with caustic potash to liberate the alcohol.

Secondary butyl alcohol is a liquid boiling at 99° under 7388 mm. pressure, and having the sp. gr. 0827 at 0°, or 0.810 at 22°. It has a burning taste and a strong odour. Oxidising agents convert it into methyl ethyl ketone, and eventually into acetic acid.