Editing Naphthalene (section)

== History ==
In the early 1820s, two separate reports described a white solid with a pungent odor derived from the [[distillation]] of [[coal tar]]. In 1821, [[John Kidd (chemist)|John Kidd]] cited these two disclosures and then described many of this substance's properties and the means of its production. He proposed the name ''naphthaline'', as it had been derived from a kind of [[naphtha]] (a broad term encompassing any volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture, including coal tar).<ref>{{cite journal | author = John Kidd | year = 1821 | title = Observations on Naphthalene, a peculiar substance resembling a concrete essential oil, which is produced during the decomposition of coal tar, by exposure to a red heat | journal = Philosophical Transactions | volume = 111 | pages = 209–221 | doi = 10.1098/rstl.1821.0017| s2cid = 97798085 }}</ref> Naphthalene's chemical formula was determined by [[Michael Faraday]] in 1826. The structure of two fused [[benzene]] rings was proposed by [[Emil Erlenmeyer]] in 1866,<ref>
{{cite journal
 | title = Studien über die s. g. aromatischen Säuren
 | author = Emil Erlenmeyer
 | journal = [[Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie]]
 | volume = 137
 | issue = 3
 | pages = 327–359
 | year = 1866
 | doi = 10.1002/jlac.18661370309 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1427251
 }}</ref> and confirmed by [[Carl Gräbe]] three years later.<ref>C. Graebe (1869) [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002457978;view=1up;seq=32 "Ueber die Constitution des Naphthalins"] (On the structure of naphthalene), ''Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie'', '''149''' : 20–28.</ref>