M. D. Gordin’s article (1) on the significance of Borodin’s chemical contributions contains two confusions and omits an important discovery. The first confusion is that the reaction by which Borodin made the first synthetic organic fluorine compound was by reaction of potassium hydrogen fluoride with benzoyl (not benzyl) chloride to form benzoyl fluoride (2). Gordin calls this the Hunsdiecker reaction. The omission is that Gordin does not mention Borodin’s important discovery of the decarboxylation of silver salts of carboxylic acids by reaction with bromine to form alkyl bromides. The second confusion is that it is this reaction that is now generally known as the Hunsdiecker reaction, not the one which forms benzoyl fluoride (3). It is sometimes called the Borodin reaction (3). Gordin says in his conclusion that Borodin should not have the status of an original chemist. Not very many chemists have reactions named after them. Further, discussions of the originality or significance of a chemist’s contributions can benefit from the quantitative data available from the Science Citation Index(4).
The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals, 12th ed.; Budavari, S., O'Neil, M. J., Smith, A., Heckelman, P. E., Kinneary, J. F., Eds.; Merck & Co., Inc: Whitehouse Station, NJ, 1996; ONR 45.
Behrman, E. J. Bull. Hist. Chem. 2005, 30, 19.
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Behrman, E. J. J. Chem. Educ.2006 83 1138.
Keywords
Carboxylic Acids; General Public; History / Philosophy; Misconceptions / Discrepant Events; Nutrition; Upper-Division Undergraduate
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