Page 29 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

Timeline of the Development of Chemical Compounds

1853 • French chemist Charles Frederick Gerhardt develops a
method for reacting salicylic acid (the active ingredient
in salicin) with acetic acid to make the first primitive
form of aspirin.
1859 • Ethylene glycol and ethylene oxide are first prepared
by French chemist Charles Adolphe Wurtz.
1860s • Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel develops a process for
manufacturing nitroglycerin on a large scale.
1863 • TNT is discovered by German chemist Joseph Wil-
brand, although the compound is not recognized as an
explosive until nearly 30 years later.
1865 • The use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic is first sug-
gested by Sir Joseph Lister.
1865 • German botanist Julius von Sachs demonstrates that
chlorophyll is responsible for photosynthetic reactions
that take place within the cells of leaves.

1870 • American chemist Robert Augustus Chesebrough
extracts and purifies petrolatum from petroleum and
begins manufacturing it, eventually using the name
TM
Vaseline .
1873 • German chemist Harmon Northrop Morse rediscovers
and synthesizes acetaminophen. It had been discovered
originally in 1852, but at the time it was ignored.

1861 1866 1869 1876 1884
American Mendel Dmitri Mendeleev Alexander Graham Worldwide system
Civil War discovers laws formulates the Bell patents the of standard time
starts. of heredity. periodic law. telephone. is adopted.
. . . . .

1860 1870 1880

xxviii CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS