Caventou, Jean

Jean Jacques Colin (Riom, Puy de Dome, 16 December 1784-Lavaine, Puy de Dome, 9 March 1865), who collaborated with Robiquet, was professor in Dijon and the St.-Cyr Military Academy. He published on fermentation, vegetable colours, etc. Pierre Joseph Pelletier (Paris 22 March 1788-19 July 1842), second son of Bertrand Pelletier (see Vol. Ill, p. 566), was a Paris apothecary who taught in the ficole de Pharmacie. Jean Bienaime Caventou (St. Omer, 30 June 1795-Paris, 5 May 1877), a Paris apothecary and professor of toxicology in the ficole de Pharmacie, also worked on calculi. ... 

Hydroquinone (p-dihydroxybenzene) was first produced by Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Jean Caventou in 1820, by dry distillation of quinic add. The structure was elucidated by Friedrich Wohler in 1844. 

Pierre Jean Robiquet (Rennes, 13 January 1780-Paris, 29 April 1840) was an apothecary and a professor in the Paris ficole superieure de Pharmacie. He discovered asparagine, glycyrrhizin in liquorice, narcotine, caffeine independently of Pelletier and Caventou (see p. 244), alizarin and purpurin in madder, orcinol in lichens, codeine, and rufigallic acid (hexahydro qran-thraquinone) by heating gallic acid with concentrated sulphuric acid. He investigated carbon disulphide, prepared pure baryta and nickel, investigated cantharides and kermes, and published fiirther papers on madder, orcin, and opium. 

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