Editing Benzoic acid (section)

== History ==
Benzoic acid was discovered in the sixteenth century. The [[dry distillation]] of [[gum benzoin]] was first described by [[Nostradamus]] (1556), and then by [[Alexius Pedemontanus]] (1560) and [[Blaise de Vigenère]] (1596).<ref>{{cite book | author= Neumüller O-A | year = 1988| title = Römpps Chemie-Lexikon| edition = 6| publisher = Frankh'sche Verlagshandlung | location = Stuttgart| isbn = 978-3-440-04516-9 | oclc= 50969944 }}</ref>

[[Justus von Liebig]] and [[Friedrich Wöhler]] determined the composition of benzoic acid.<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Liebig J |author2=Wöhler F
| title = Untersuchungen über das Radikal der Benzoesäure
| journal = [[Liebigs Annalen|Annalen der Chemie]]
| year = 1832
| volume = 3
| pages = 249–282
| doi = 10.1002/jlac.18320030302
| issue = 3|hdl=2027/hvd.hxdg3f
|author2-link=Friedrich Wöhler
|author-link=Justus von Liebig
| hdl-access = free
}}</ref> These latter also investigated how [[hippuric acid]] is related to benzoic acid.

In 1875 Salkowski discovered the [[Antifungal medication|antifungal]] properties of benzoic acid, which explains  the preservation of benzoate-containing [[Cloudberry|cloudberry fruits]].<ref>{{cite journal | author= Salkowski E| journal=Berl Klin Wochenschr| year=1875 | volume=12 | pages=297–298}}</ref>{{Disputed inline|Salkowski reference|date=March 2022}}