Preparation

Benzene (phene), C₆H₆, was first isolated by Michael Faraday (1825) from cylinders of compressed illuminating gas obtained from pyrolysis of whale oil. In 1845, benzene was found in coal-tar by Hofmann Arenes are mainly present in the light oil fraction of coal tar distillation from where they are isolated by suitable methods. However, it may be prepared by the following methods:

From ethyne by cyclic polymerization

Benzene was first synthesized by Berthelot (1870) by passing ethyne through red-hot iron tube at 873 K. Under similar conditions, propyne gives mesitylene

From sodium benzoate by decarboxylation with soda-lime (Laboratory method)

From phenol by reduction with zinc dust