Adolf von Baeyer

Adolf von Baeyer
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer in 1905
Born	October 31, 1835 Berlin, Germany
Died	August 20, 1917 Starnberg, Germany
Residence	Germany
Nationality	German
Field	Chemist
Institutions	University of Berlin Gewerbe-Akademie, Berlin University of Strassburg University of Munich
Alma mater	University of Berlin
Academic advisor	Robert Wilhelm Bunsen Friedrich August Kekulé
Notable students	Emil Fischer
Known for	Synthesis of indigo
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1905)

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (October 31, 1835 - August 20, 1917) was a German chemist who synthesized indigo. He also discovered phenolphthalein, a chemical used as an indicator for acidity and alkalinity, and developed a resin that was a precursor to the development of one of the first plastics.

and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry ^[1]. Born in Berlin, he initially studied mathematics and physics at Berlin University before moving to Heidelberg to study chemistry with Robert Bunsen. There he worked primarily in August Kekulé's laboratory, earning his doctorate (from Berlin) in 1858. He became a lecturer at the Berlin Trade Academy in 1860, and a Professor at the University of Strassburg in 1871. In 1875 he succeeded Justus von Liebig as Chemistry Professor at the University of Munich.

Baeyer's chief achievements include the synthesis and description of the plant dye indigo, the discovery of the phthalein dyes, and the investigation of polyacetylenes, oxonium salts, nitroso compounds (1869) and uric acid derivatives (1860 and onwards) (including the discovery of barbituric acid (1864), the parent compound of the barbiturates). He was the first to propose the correct formula for indole in 1869, after publishing the first synthesis three years earlier. His contributions to theoretical chemistry include the 'strain' (Spannung) theory of triple bonds and strain theory in small carbon rings.

In 1872 he experimented with phenol and formaldehyde, almost preempting Leo Baekeland's later discovery of Bakelite.

In 1881 the Royal Society of London awarded Baeyer the Davy Medal for his work with indigo. In 1905 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds."

Biography

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer was born on October 31, 1835, in Berlin, as the son of Johann Jakob Baeyer and Eugenie née Hitzig. He came from a family distinguished both in literature and the natural sciences. His father, a lieutenant-general, was the originator of the European system of geodetic measurement, and worked with the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel on a project to determine the shape of the earth. His mother converted to Christianity from Judaism, and also came from a family with a strong record of public service and achievement.

Even as a child Baeyer was interested in chemical experiments and at the age of twelve found a new double salt of copper. He spent his middle school years at the Friedrich-Wilhelms Gymnasium.

Baeyer devoted his first two years as a student at the University of Berlin (1853-1855) chiefly to physics and mathematics. By 1856, however, his old love for chemistry re-awakened and drew him to Bunsen's laboratory at the University of Heidelberg. His studies there on methyl chloride resulted in his first published work in 1857. The following year he worked in the laboratory of Friedrich August Kekulé's in Heidelberg and was associated with his ingenious theories of chemical structure. Baeyer's life work was soon to bring this indeed most brilliant of chemical theories much resounding success. In 1858, he received his doctorate from the University of Berlin for his work on cacodyl compounds he completed while working in Kekulé's laboratory.

For the next year or two Baeyer was again working with Kekulé who had meanwhile become Professor at Ghent. A study of uric acid, which also led him to the discovery of barbituric acid, provided the thesis by which he qualified as a university teacher in 1860. In the same year he became a lecturer in organic chemistry at the "Gewerbe-Akademie" (Trade Academy) in Berlin. He received little money but was given a spacious laboratory. In 1866 the University of Berlin, at the suggestion of A.W. Hofmann, conferred on him a senior lectureship, which, however, was unpaid.

It was during the Berlin period that Baeyer began most of the work that was to bring him fame later. In 1865 he started his work on indigo, the blue dye had fascinated him since his youth, and this soon led to the discovery of indole and to the partial synthesis of indigotin. His pupils Graebe and Liebermann, with the help of the zinc-dust distillation developed by Baeyer, clarified the structure of alizarin and worked out the synthesis used industrially. Studies were initiated on condensation reactions which, after Baeyer had gone to Strassburg as Professor in the newly established University (1871) brought to light that important category of dyestuffs - the phthaleins. Baeyer's theory of carbon-dioxide assimilation in formaldehyde also belongs to this period.

On the death of Justus von Liebig in 1873, Baeyer was called to his Chair in the University of Munich and there, over many years, built up an excellent new chemical laboratory. With his tenure at Munich came elegant total syntheses of indigo, as well as work on acetylene and polyacetylene, and from this derived the famous Baeyer strain theory of the carbon rings; there were studies of the constitution of benzene as well as comprehensive investigations into cyclic terpene. In this connexion the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of ketones by means of per-acids was discovered. Especial interest was aroused theoretically by his work on organic peroxides and oxonium compounds and on the connexion between constitution and colour.

Von Baeyer's work was at once pioneering and many-sided. With admirable penetration and extraordinary experimental skill he combined dogged perseverance and, even at 70 years old, a youthful buoyancy in his work. He was careful never to overestimate the value of a theory. While Kekulé sometimes approached Nature with preconceived opinions, von Baeyer would say: "I have never set up an experiment to see whether I was right, but to see how the materials behave." Even in old age his views did not become fixed, and his mind remained open to new developments in chemical science.

Like Berzelius and Liebig, von Baeyer distinguished himself by forming a school which alone nurtured fifty future university teachers. Honours were heaped upon him, including the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1905. On his fiftieth birthday he was raised to the hereditary nobility.

Adolf von Baeyer married Adelheid (Lida) Bendemann in 1868. They had one daughter, who became the wife of the chemist Oskar Piloty, and two sons, both university lecturers, Hans in medicine at Munich, and Otto in physics at Berlin. He was still young in spirit when he succumbed to a seizure at his country house at Starnberger See on August 20, 1917

See also

• August Kekulé
• Robert Bunsen

External links

• Speech given by Professor A. Lindstedt, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on December 10, 1905, upon Baeyer's receiving the Nobel Prize
• Biography by the Nobel Foundation
• von Baeyer biography

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• ^  Adolf von Baeyer: Winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1905 Armin de Meijere Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 44, Issue 48 , Pages 7836 - 7840 2005 Abstract
• I. Asimov, Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (2nd Ed.), Doubleday, 1982, p. 472
• J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry, Macmillan, 1964, vol. 4, pp. 775-788
• A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists, Williams, T. I., Ed., Wiley, 1969, pp. 27-28
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970-1990, vol. 1, pp. 389-391
• Great Chemists Farber, E., Ed., Interscience, 1961, pp. 733-747
• Nature 1917, 100, pp. 188-190
• J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 1923, 123, pp. 1520-1546
• Nature 1935, 136, pp. 669-670
• Mem. Lect. Chem. Soc. 1914-1932, 3, pp. 47-73
• J. Am. Chem. Soc. Proc., 1923, 45, pp. 51-54
• J. Chem. Ed. 1930, 7, pp. 1231-1248
• Chem. Ber. 1935, 68, pp. 175A-180A.
• Naturwiss. 1915, 3, pp. 559-582.
• Neue Deutsche Biographie, Duncker & Humblot, 1953-1990, vol. 1, pp. 534-537
• A. Baeyer, W. von Gesammelte, F. Vieweg & Sohn, 1905, pp. vii-xx
• Das Buch der Grossen Chemiker, Bugge, G., Ed., Verlag Chemie, 1930, vol. 2, pp. 321-335.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Laureates (1901-1925)

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