Aniline
. Aniline, also phenylamine, colorless liquid, slightly soluble in water and soluble in organic solvents. It was first prepared in 1826 as one of the products obtained by heating indigo to a high temperature. The word aniline is derived from the specific name, anil, of the indigo plant , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word nila (“blue” or “indigo”). In 1856 the British chemist Sir William Henry Perkin , while attempting to synthesize quinine , treated impure aniline with potassium dichromate and obtained a violet substance that could be used as a dye. Perkin named this material mauve and set up a factory to manufacture it. The enterprise was highly successful, and in a short time other synthetic dyestuffs, prepared from aniline or from other derivatives of coal tar, were competing with natural dyes. Aniline is most readily prepared for commercial use by the reduction of nitrobenzene by iron and hydrochloric acid. It is also prepared commercially by the action of ammonia un...