X quantitative study of the equilibrium in the reaction has been undertaken for a series of compounds in which R is a mono-, di-or triarylmethyl radical. A list of the compounds selected for study appears in Table I. For these substances it has been found that equilibrium can be attained at 60'in a reasonable length of time, and that the reaction proceeds according to Eq. 1 without interference from the formation of other products. The ...