# Gomberg’s Earlier “Instance of Trivalent Carbon”

## TL;DR

This paper re-examines Gomberg's 1900 discovery of trivalent carbon, revealing earlier misunderstandings and their impact on chemical theory.

## Contribution

It highlights Gomberg's initial misinterpretation and the overlooked significance of trivalent carbon compounds.

## Key findings

- Gomberg initially thought he created a molecular complex but actually produced triphenylmethyl cation crystals.
- Trigonal carbon coordination challenged existing valency rules before quantum mechanics.
- The paper suggests a counterfactual history of chemistry based on Gomberg's early work.

## Abstract

In this journal, Moses Gomberg’s 1900 revelation,
“An
Instance of Trivalent Carbon: Triphenylmethyl”, lauded on a
centennial National Historic Chemical Landmark for challenging the
“prevailing belief that carbon can only have four bonds”,
shifts its place in our imaginations as the facts given here are accommodated.
In 1898 Gomberg presumed that he had made a molecular complex of bromotriphenylmethane
and two neutral I2 molecules. But he was mistaken. Instead,
Gomberg produced a mixture of three persistent single crystals of
the triphenylmethyl cation before he published his aforementioned,
controversial paper. Trigonal carbon coordination was the crack in
the valency rules that had organized chemistry prior to the invention
of quantum mechanics. Gomberg did not recognize the wealth of trivalent
carbon compounds he had in hand before the proposition of the radical
and corresponding cation thereafter. This work alludes to a counterfactual
history.