Production
Phthalic acid is produced by the catalytic oxidation of naphthalene directly to phthalic anhydride and a subsequent hydrolysis of the anhydride.
Phthalic acid was first obtained by French chemist Auguste Laurent in 1836 by oxidizing naphthalene tetrachloride. Believing the resulting substance to be a naphthalene derivative, he named it "naphthalic acid". After the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac determined its correct formula, Laurent gave it its present name. Manufacturing methods in the nineteenth century included oxidation of naphthalene tetrachloride with nitric acid, or, better, oxidation of the hydrocarbon with fuming sulfuric acid, using mercury or mercury(II) sulfate as a catalyst.
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