The Variability of Long Diffraction Spacings in Paraffin Waxes

Abstract

So much interest is being manifested in the polymorphism of long chain compounds, particularly the fatty acids (Piper, Malkin, and Austin, J. Chem. Soc., 1926, 2310. de Boer, NATURE, 119, 50, 635; 1927. Thibaud, Compt. rend., 184, 24, 96; 1927. Müller, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 114, 542; 1927), that it seems advisable to report the results of some X-ray experiments with ordinary commercial paraffin waxes. Only one mention of X-ray studies of these complex mixtures of many hydrocarbons has been made, that by Piper, Brown, and Dyment (J. Chem. Soc., 127, 2194; 1925), who found that the lines of the C₂₈ hydrocarbon appeared alone for a paraffin wax, although this fraction furnished only 16 per cent, of the mixture and other members as high as C₃₂ were probably present.