Kekule and Benzene

The other contentious issue is what might be termed the Kekule/Loschmidt controversy. Here Kekule is said to have been anticipated by J. Loschmidt in his proposal of a ring structure for benzene.134,135 Indeed one of the authors has proceeded to repeat the charge and, on the strength of researches by Kekule s biographer, 

Turning from the polemics surrounding the Kekule case, it is refreshing to read of real experiments and genuine problems in the laboratory. The complexities associated with early attempts to reduce benzene to cyclohexane by HI included the production of methylcyclopentane, whose boiling temperature was nearly that of hexane, and which originated in an unsuspected rearrangement.141 

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