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Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe

Hermann Kolbe
Hermann Kolbe2.jpg
Hermann Kolbe
Born (1818-09-27)September 27, 1818
Elliehausen, near Göttingen, Kingdom of Hanover
Died November 25, 1884(1884-11-25) (aged 66)
Leipzig, German Empire
Residence Germany, England
Nationality German
Fields Chemist
Institutions University of Marburg
University of Leipzig
Alma mater University of Marburg
Doctoral advisor Robert Bunsen
Friedrich Wöhler
Doctoral students Peter Griess
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Zaitsev
Theodor Curtius
Ernst Otto Beckmann
Carl Graebe
Oscar Loew
Constantin Fahlberg
Nikolai Menshutkin
Vladimir Markovnikov
Jacob Volhard
Ludwig Mond
Alexander Crum Brown
Maxwell Simpson
Frederick Guthrie [Note, not primary advisor for all in this list]
Known for Kolbe electrolysis,
Kolbe-Schmitt reaction
Kolbe nitrile synthesis
Notable awards Davy Medal (1884)

Hermann Kolbe (Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, 27 September 1818 – 25 November 1884), was a seminal contributor in the birth of modern organic chemistry. He was a Professor at Marburg and Leipzig. Kolbe coined the term synthesis and contributed to the philosophical demise of vitalism through synthesis of the organic substance acetic acid from carbon disulfide, and also contributed to the development of structural theory. This was done via modifications to the idea of "radicals" and accurate prediction of the existence of secondary and tertiary alcohols, and to the emerging array of organic reactions through his Kolbe electrolysis of carboxylate salts, the Kolbe-Schmitt reaction in the preparation of aspirin and the Kolbe nitrile synthesis. After studies with Wöhler and Bunsen, Kolbe was involved with the early internationalization of chemistry through overseas work in London (with Frankland), and rose through the ranks of his field to edit the . As such, he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences won the Royal Society of London's Davy Medal in the year of his death. Despite these accomplishments and his training, by a storied next generation of chemists (including Zaitsev, Curtius, Beckmann, Graebe, Markovnikov, etc.), Kolbe is remembered for editing the Journal for more than a decade, where his rejection of Kekulé's structure of benzene, van't Hoff's theory on the origin of chirality and von Baeyer's reforms of nomenclature were personally critical and linguistically violent. Kolbe died of a heart attack in Leipzig at age 68, six years after the death of his wife, Charlotte. He was survived by four children.


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