Isolation and characterisation of glycerol
Aislamiento y caracterización del glicerol
- Date
- 1779 (aislamiento de Scheele) / 1823 (caracterización de Chevreul) · confidence medium
- Place
- Köping, Sweden
- Credited to
- Carl Wilhelm Scheele (isolation); Michel Eugène Chevreul (characterisation and naming)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Scheele obtained a sweet, viscous liquid by heating olive oil with litharge; decades later Chevreul showed that this 'sweet principle of fats' was a common component of animal and vegetable oils and fats, and named it glycerine.
What it led to
- Understanding of fats as glycerol esters of fatty acids
- Industrial manufacture of soap, nitroglycerin and cosmetics