Kaempferol: a case study of what eponyms in chemical nomenclature can tell us

Abstract

Personal names (eponyms) of real or fictitious people can be found both in botanical and zoological nomenclature ever since Linnaeus's reform efforts (and earlier too) – yet they were never uncontroversial. The same applies for scientific chemical nomenclature where the situation is more complex because besides systematic names, semi-systematic, and even non-scientific (trivial) names such as Glauber's salt or ammonia (both derived from eponyms), are officially accepted. One of the semi-systematic names is kaempferol, the designation of a natural dyestuff (flavonoid) that occurs in numerous plants, among them Kaempferia galanga. The course of the discovery and name-giving process for this organic compound is traced, elucidating that not only Engelbert Kaempfer was involved, but a whole series of natural scientists.