“ Methacrylic acid was first obtained in the form of its ethyl ester by E. Frankland and B. F. Duppa (Annalen, 1865, 136, p. 12) by acting with phosphorus pentachloride on oxyisobutyric ester (CH3) 2·C (OH) ·COOC2H5. It is, however, more readily obtained by boiling citra- or meso-brompyrotartaric acids with alkalis. It crystallizes in prisms, which are soluble in water, melt at 16° C., and boil at 160.5° C. When fused with an alkali, it forms propionic acid; with biomine it yields αβ-dibromisobutyric acid. Sodium amalgam reduces it to isobutyric acid. ”