Editing Isoprene (section)

== History and etymology ==
[[Charles Greville Williams|C. G. Williams]] named the compound in 1860 after obtaining it from the [[pyrolysis]] of natural rubber. He correctly deduced the mass shares of carbon and hydrogen<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Williams CG |title=On isoprene and caoutchine |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London |date=1860 |volume=10 |pages=516–519 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092762079;view=1up;seq=550|doi=10.1098/rspl.1859.0101 |s2cid=104233421 }}</ref> (but arrived at an incorrect formula C<sub>10</sub>H<sub>8</sub> because the modern atomic weight of carbon was not adopted until the [[Karlsruhe Congress]] held later that year). He did not specify the reasons for the name, but it is hypothesized that it came from "propylene" with which isoprene shares some physical and chemical properties. The first one to observe recombination of isoprene into rubber-like substance was {{Ill|Gustave Bouchardat|de}} in 1879, and [[William A. Tilden]] identified its structure five years later.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjD7CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|title=Analysis of Rubber and Rubber-like Polymers| vauthors = Loadman MJ |page=10|date=2012-12-06|publisher=Springer|isbn=9789401144353}}</ref>