naphthalene
Sign in to saveNaphthalene is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene's structure consists of a fused pair of benzene rings. It is the main ingredient of traditional mothballs.
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Naphthalene is a white crystalline chemical made of two fused benzene rings, best known as the main ingredient in traditional mothballs and recognizable by its distinctive odor. It's the simplest type of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, a class of organic compounds important in chemistry and industry.
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Article
23 sectionsContents
- History
- Physical properties
- Molecular geometry
- Electrical conductivity
- Chemical properties
- Reactions with electrophiles
- Lithiation
- Reduction and oxidation
- Production
- Other sources and occurrences
- Uses
- Fumigant
- Solvent
- Derivative uses
- Sulfonic acids and sulfonates
- Other derivative uses
- Other uses
- Health effects
- Regulation
- Naphthalene derivatives
- See also
- References
- External links
Naphthalene is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene's structure consists of a fused pair of benzene rings. It is the main ingredient of traditional mothballs.
== 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 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). 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, and confirmed by Carl Gräbe three years later.