| Summary: | Sebastiano de Luca (1820-1880) was a multifaceted Italian-French chemist who carried on research on a wide variety of subjects, among them, the synthesis of numerous organic derivatives of iodine, the action of halogens upon glycerin, the separation of active vegetable principles, analytic, inorganic, physiological and atmospheric chemistry, formation of sugar in the liver and of oil in olives, as well as the analysis of the products derived from volcanic activity and of materials found in the ruins of Pompeii. He synthesized for the first time allyl iodide and pure propylene by the reaction between glycerin and phosphorus triiodide, and a large number of allyl derivatives (i.e. allyl ethyl, allyl phenyl allyl halides, allyl alcohol), and determined their physical and chemical properties. He also studied the action of phosphorus chlorides and bromides upon glycerin and synthesized the different epichlorohdryins and epibromohydrins. De Luca determined the composition of the tubercles of cyclamen and separated its active principle (cyclamin), the essence and composition of pear lemon, sweet maudlin, stigmaphyllon jatræphælium, and together with Berthelot synthesized artificial mustard oil and studied hepatic sugar.
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