Benzene’s 200-year legacy of transformation
By 
Philip Ball2025-06-16T13:41:00
As we celebrate the anniversary of benzene’s isolation, we must remember that scientific centenaries carry additional agendas
For many chemistry students, benzene is the Proustian madeleine. Nothing conjures up those hours in the organic chemistry lab trying desperately to crystallise your products more vividly than the almond whiff of benzene derivatives. However abstract the concept of aromaticity has become in chemistry today, it’s clear enough where it began: in the heady scent of the kernel at the heart of the compounds first considered aromatic, the benzene ring.