About the lecture

In this mini-lecture we briefly look at the history of how benzene was discovered. For a long time, it was known that benzene’s chemical formula was C6H6 but its structure was still a mystery. Being immensely tiny, at the time it was impossible to see its structure under a microscope. So what structures did leading chemists at the time propose? We take a brief look at these before moving onto Kekulé’s structure, which ended up being the closest to the mark.

About the lecturer

Dr Danny Allwood joined Sheffield Hallam University from the University of Cambridge, where he undertook a PhD (2008-2012) and post-doctoral research (2012-2015) with Professor Steven V. Ley CBE FRS. Prior to this, he attained my undergraduate degree at the University of Warwick (2004-2008). His current research programme is focused on the development of practical synthetic and catalytic organic transformations.