Editing Carbon monoxide (section)

==History==
=== Prehistory ===
Humans have maintained a complex relationship with carbon monoxide since first learning to control fire circa 800,000 BC. Early humans probably discovered the toxicity of carbon monoxide poisoning upon introducing fire into their dwellings. The early development of [[metallurgy]] and [[smelting]] technologies emerging circa 6,000 BC through the [[Bronze Age]] likewise plagued humankind from carbon monoxide exposure. Apart from the toxicity of carbon monoxide, indigenous [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] may have experienced the neuroactive properties of carbon monoxide through [[shamanistic]] fireside rituals.<ref name="Hopper2021" />

=== Ancient history ===
Early civilizations developed mythological tales to explain the origin of fire, such as [[Prometheus]] from [[Greek mythology]] who shared fire with humans. [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BC) first recorded that burning coals produced toxic fumes. Greek physician [[Galen]] (129–199 AD) speculated that there was a change in the composition of the air that caused harm when inhaled, and many others of the era developed a basis of knowledge about carbon monoxide in the context of [[coal]] fume toxicity. [[Cleopatra]] may have [[Death of Cleopatra|died]] from [[carbon monoxide poisoning]].<ref name="Hopper2021" />

=== Pre–industrial revolution ===
[[Georg Ernst Stahl]] mentioned ''carbonarii halitus'' in 1697 in reference to toxic vapors thought to be carbon monoxide. [[Friedrich Hoffmann]] conducted the first modern scientific investigation into carbon monoxide poisoning from coal in 1716. [[Herman Boerhaave]] conducted the first scientific experiments on the effect of carbon monoxide (coal fumes) on animals in the 1730s.<ref name="Hopper2021" />

[[Joseph Priestley]] is considered to have first synthesized carbon monoxide in 1772. [[Carl Wilhelm Scheele]] similarly isolated carbon monoxide from charcoal in 1773 and thought it could be the carbonic entity making fumes toxic. [[Torbern Bergman]] isolated carbon monoxide from [[oxalic acid]] in 1775. Later in 1776, the French chemist {{ill|de Lassone|fr|Joseph-Marie-François de Lassone}} produced CO by heating [[zinc oxide]] with [[Coke (fuel)|coke]], but mistakenly concluded that the gaseous product was [[hydrogen]], as it burned with a blue flame. In the presence of oxygen, including atmospheric concentrations, carbon monoxide burns with a blue flame, producing carbon dioxide. [[Antoine Lavoisier]] conducted similar inconclusive experiments to Lassone in 1777. The gas was identified as a compound containing [[carbon]] and [[oxygen]] by [[William Cruickshank (chemist)|William Cruickshank]] in 1800.<ref name="Hopper2021" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stromeyer |first=Friedrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MLg5AAAAcAAJ&q=hydrocarbonate+cruickshank&pg=PA1 |title=Grundriß der theoretischen Chemie: zum Behuf seiner Vorlesungen entworfen |date=1808 |publisher=Röwer |pages=1–18 |language=de}}</ref>

[[Thomas Beddoes]] and [[James Watt]] recognized carbon monoxide (as [[Hydrocarbonate (gas)|hydrocarbonate]]) to brighten venous blood in 1793. Watt suggested coal fumes could act as an antidote to the oxygen in blood, and Beddoes and Watt likewise suggested hydrocarbonate has a greater affinity for animal fiber than oxygen in 1796. In 1854, [[Adrien Chenot]] similarly suggested carbon monoxide to remove the oxygen from blood and then be oxidized by the body to carbon dioxide.<ref name="Hopper2021" /> The mechanism for carbon monoxide poisoning is widely credited to [[Claude Bernard]] whose memoirs beginning in 1846 and published in 1857 phrased, "prevents arterials blood from becoming venous". [[Felix Hoppe-Seyler]] independently published similar conclusions in the following year.<ref name="Hopper2021" />

===Advent of industrial chemistry===
Carbon monoxide gained recognition as an essential reagent in the 1900s.<ref name="Ull" />  Three industrial processes illustrate its evolution in industry.  In the [[Fischer–Tropsch process]], coal and related carbon-rich feedstocks are converted into liquid fuels via the intermediacy of CO.  Originally developed as part of the German war effort to compensate for their lack of domestic petroleum, this technology continues today.  Also in Germany, a mixture of CO and hydrogen was found to combine with [[olefin]]s to give [[aldehyde]]s.  This process, called [[hydroformylation]], is used to produce many large scale chemicals such as [[surfactant]]s as well as specialty compounds that are popular fragrances and drugs.  For example, CO is used in the production of [[vitamin A]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelkar |first1=A.A. |title=Industrial Catalytic Processes for Fine and Specialty Chemicals |year=2016 |isbn=9780128014578 |pages=663–692 |chapter=Carbonylations and Hydroformylations for Fine Chemicals |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-801457-8.00014-8}}</ref> In a third major process, attributed to researchers at [[Monsanto]], CO combines with methanol to give [[acetic acid]]. Most acetic acid is produced by the [[Cativa process]].  Hydroformylation and the acetic acid syntheses are two of myriad [[carbonylation]] processes.