Abstract
There has probably been no solvent used by organic chemists to a greater extent as a means of finding the molecular weight of newly prepared compounds by the cryoscopic method than camphor. The establishment of the numerical value of the molal freezing point depression constant for this substance is of considerable importance. Of the several values found in the literature for this constant, the one most widely accepted is that of 39.7, as found by Rast. Many of the values found by other investigators are in disagreement with this value; outstanding ones being those of Jounieaux, 49.6; Efremov, 48.7; and Durand, 49.7; as listed by Meldrum, Saxer, and Jones. |These last three mentioned investigators have shown in their paper that the value of the depression constant for camphor is dependent upon the concentration of the solvent; cast's value of 39.7 holding true for solutions within certain concentration limits. |It is the purpose of this study to investigate the molal freezing point depression constant for camphor, keeping in mind the limitations of concentration as shown by Meldrum, Saxer, and Jones. Data will be given concerning the evaluation of the constant, procedure, and method modification noted. Comparison of the data of this author to the data of Meldrum, Saxer, and Jones will be made by means of tables and graphs.