Discovery of aniline
Descubrimiento de la anilina
- Date
- 1826-1843 · confidence medium
- Place
- Germany
- Credited to
- Otto Unverdorben (first isolation, 1826); identity and name established by August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1843)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Several chemists independently isolate the same compound (by distilling indigo or coal tar) under different names, until Hofmann shows in 1843 that 'crystallin', 'kyanol', 'benzidam' and 'aniline' are the same substance.
Independently discovered by Unverdorben (1826, 'crystallin'), Runge (1834, 'kyanol'), Fritzsche (1840, name 'aniline') and Zinin (1842, 'benzidam'); Hofmann unified the identities in 1843.
What it led to
- Modern synthetic dye industry
- Perkin's mauveine dye (1856)
- Birth of the German industrial organic chemistry industry