The Zincke-Suhl reaction is a special case of a Friedel-Crafts alkylation and was first described by Theodor Zincke

Theodor Zincke

Theodor Zincke was a German chemist and the academic adviser of Otto Hahn.-Life:Theodor Zincke was born in Uelzen on 19 May 1843. He became a pharmacist and graduated in Göttingen with his Staatsexamen. He began studying chemistry with Friedrich Wöhler and received his Ph.D in 1869...

 and Suhl.
The classic example of this reaction is the conversion of p-cresol

P-Cresol

p-Cresol, also 4-methylphenol, is a phenol, with formula C6H4.It is a positional isomer; the other two are m-cresol and o-cresol. P-cresol is a major component in pig odor. . For more information see cresol. 4-methylphenol is a component in human sweat. It is a component of human odour attractive...

 to a cyclohexadienone (with the aid of aluminium chloride

Aluminium chloride

Aluminium chloride is the main compound of aluminium and chlorine. It is white, but samples are often contaminated with iron trichloride, giving it a yellow colour. The solid has a low melting and boiling point. It is mainly produced and consumed in the production of aluminium metal, but large...

 as a catalyst and tetrachloromethane as a solvent

Solvent

A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...

). Melvin Newman, a scientist from the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 intensively studied the reaction in the 1950s and reported several improved procedures as well as mechanistic studies.

The reaction product is a starting material in the dienol benzene rearrangement.