Phenols: a review of their history and development as antimicrobial agents

Abstract

Phenols were first isolated in crude form at the end of the eighteenth century. Pure phenol was isolated in 1834 and its structure proved in 1842. In 1860 Küchenmeister first used phenol as a wound dressing in Germany. Lister was to use it in his classical experiments in antiseptic surgery. Substituted phenols, and to some extent phenol itself, are still in use today as antiseptics, disinfectants and preservatives.