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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

A Novel Method for the Culture and Polarized Stimulation of Human Intestinal Mucosa Explants
Published on: May 1, 2013
Icilio Guareschi and his amazing "1897 reaction"
Gian Cesare Tron1, Alberto Minassi1, Giovanni Sorba1
1Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, Largo Donegani 2, 28100 Novara, Italy.
Abstract:
Organic chemistry honors Icilio Guareschi (1847-1918) with three eponymic reactions, the best known ones being the Guareschi synthesis of pyridones and the Guareschi-Lustgarten reaction. A third Guareschi reaction, the so-called "Guareschi 1897 reaction", is one of the most unusual reactions in organic chemistry, involving the radical-mediated paradoxical aerobic generation of hydrocarbons in near-neutral water solution. A discussion of the mechanism of this amazing reaction, the only metal-free process that generates hydrocarbons, and the implications of the approach in biology and geosciences mirrors the multifaceted scientific personality of the discoverer. Thus, Guareschi's eclectic range of activities spans a surprising variety of topics, overcoming the boundaries of the traditional partition of chemistry into organic, inorganic, and analytical branches and systematically crosses the divide between pure and applied science as well as between the history of chemistry and the personal contributions to its development.
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