Pietro Biginelli: The Man Behind the Reaction

The Biginelli dihydropyrimidine synthesis is one of the most important and oldest multicomponent reactions and has been extensively investigated in terms of application and mechanism. Surprisingly, little information is available on its discoverer, the Piedmontese chemist Pietro Biginelli, who also carried out the first studies on the purification and characterization of the (in) famous Gosio's gas. The reasons for the lack of a current biography on Biginelli can be traced back to his early demise from the research community. This, combined with the prematurity of bio-organometallic chemistry and the scarce popularity of pyrimidines before the discovery of their biological relevance, resulted in a paradoxical situation that led Biginelli to be remembered mostly for his administrative merits and career. By capitalizing on original documentation retrieved in archives or provided by his family, we present an account of the life of this forgotten chemist in the context of his contemporary chemical research.