Styrolene is oxidized by nitric or chromic acids to benzoic acid; reduction gives ethylbenzene; hydrochloric and hydrobromic acids yield a-haloid ethylbenzenes, e.g.
Styrolene gives origin to three series of derivatives, two of which contain the substituents in the side chain, e.g.
Nitrostyrolene results when styrolene is treated with fuming nitric acid.
Ethane, when heated to this degree, splits up into ethylene and hydrogen, whilst ethylene decomposes to methane and acetylene, and the acetylene at once polymerizes to benzene, styrolene, retene, &c. A portion also condenses, and at the same time loses some hydrogen, becoming naphthalene; and the compounds so formed by interactions amongst themselves build up the remainder of the hydrocarbons present in the coal tar, whilst the organic substances containing oxygen in the coal break down, and cause the formation of the phenols in the tar.