Idrialin

Idrialin is a mineral wax accompanying the mercury ore in Idria. According to Goldschmidt it can be extracted by means of xylene, amyl alcohol or turpentine; also without decomposition, by distillation in a current of hydrogen, or carbon dioxide. It is a white crystalline body, very difficultly fusible, boiling above 440 °C (824 °F). Its solution in glacial acetic acid, by oxidation with chromic acid, yielded a red powdery solid and a fatty acid fusing at 62 °C, and exhibiting all the characters of a mixture of palmitic acid and stearic acid.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.