Page 23 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

Timeline of the Development of Chemical Compounds

510 BCE • Persian emperor Darius makes the first recorded
reference to sugar when he refers to the sugar cane
growing on the banks of the Indus River.
184 BCE • Roman writer Cato the Elder describes a method of
producing calcium oxide.

c. 1st century CE • Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder writes
about a substance he calls hammoniacus sal, which
appears to have been ammonium chloride.
1st century CE • The first recipes calling for the use of pectin
to make jams and jellies are recorded.
c. 575 CE • The cultivation of the coffee tree begins in Africa.

659 • Cinnamaldehyde is described in the famous Chinese
medical text, the Tang Materia Medica.

8th century • Arabian chemist Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan,
also known as Geber, writes about his work with several
compounds, such as sodium chloride, sulfuric acid, nitric
acid, citric acid, and acetic acid.
1242 • English natural philosopher Roger Bacon describes a
method for making gunpowder.
Late 1200s • First mention of camphor by a Westerner occurs
in the writings of Marco Polo.

8TH CENTURY C. 6 BCE 622
4000 BCE BCE Jesus of Mohammed’s
Iron Age begins First recorded Nazareth flight from
in Egypt. Olympic Games. is born. Mecca to Medina.
. . . .

4000 BCE 3000 BCE 2000 BCE 1000 BCE 1 CE 500

xxii CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS