Minunnil prepared benzoic anhydride in 78y0 yield through the reaction of a mixture of benzoyl chloride and pyridine with water. He formulated the reaction as: 2CeHsCOClGHsN+ HzO--+(C&&, C0) 20+ 2CsHsNHCl. Wedekind2 suggested that a radical was formed from the acyl chloride by the removal of the elements of hydrogen chloride to give pyridine hydrochloride.