Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Michel Faraday first isolated and identified benzene in 1825 from the oily residue derived from the production of illuminating gas, giving it the name bicarburet of hydrogen. In 1833, Eilhard Mitscherlich produced it via the distillation of benzoic acid (from gum benzoin) and lime. Mitscherlich gave the compound the name benzin.In 1836 the French chemist Auguste Laurent named the substance "phène"; this is the root of the word phenol, which is hydroxylated benzene, and phenyl, which is the radical formed by abstraction of a hydrogen atom from benzene.
3:29 AM