Terpene synonyms

The liquid boils at -5° C. and the solid melts at -65° C. It forms double compounds with many metallic chlorides, and finds considerable application as a means of separating various members of the terpene group of compounds.

The properties of caoutchouc clearly show, however, that its actual molecular structure is considerably more complex than is represented by the empirical formula, and that it is to be regarded as the polymer of a terpene or similar hydrocarbon and composed of a cluster of at least ten or twenty molecules of the formula C5H8.

When solid caoutchouc is strongly heated it breaks down, without change in its ultimate composition, into a number of simpler liquid hydrocarbons of the terpene class (dipentene, di-isoprene, isoprene, &c.), of which one, isoprene (C5H8), is of simpler structure than oil of turpentine (C 10 H 16), from which it can also be obtained by the action of an intense heat.