Borneol is easily oxidized to the ketone (camphor). One historical name for borneol is Borneo camphor which explains the name. (The compound was named in 1842 by the French chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt.[2]) Borneol can be synthesized by reduction of camphor by the Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction (a reversible process). Reduction of camphor with sodium borohydride (fast and irreversible) gives instead the isomer isoborneol as the kinetically controlled reaction product.