Anton Geuther
| Johann Georg Anton Geuther | |
|---|---|
Anton Geuther
|
|
| Born |
23 April 1833 Neustadt bei Coburg, German Confederation |
| Died | 23 August 1889 (aged 56) Jena, German Empire |
| Nationality | German |
| Institutions | University of Jena |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Academic advisors | Friedrich Wöhler |
| Doctoral students |
Carl Duisberg Hans Hübner August Michaelis |
Johann Georg Anton Geuther (23 April 1833 – 23 August 1889) was a German chemist. His work in organic and inorganic chemistry influenced the development of coordination chemistry. Geuther spent most of his academic career at the University of Jena where he discovered ethyl acetoacetate, a key compound for chemical synthesis and for the discovery of tautomerism.
Geuther was born in Neustadt bei Coburg and was educated in Neustad, Coburg and Saalfeld. Although his family favoured education in the merchant business, he started to study chemistry at the University of Jena, but changed to the University of Göttingen in 1853. He received his PhD in 1855 for a work on oil shale carried out together with Friedrich Wöhler. In the following years, he gradually improved his position in Göttingen and became professor in the University of Jena in 1860. In 1883 he married and lived until his death with his wife, son and daughter in Jena. Geuther died of typhus in 1889 at the age of 57.
Geuther started to work on inorganic topics, such as the electrolysis of chromic acid and sulfuric acid to determine the similarities of the two compounds. His research on the constitution of several cobalt amine complexes, such as hexamminecobalt(III) chloride, were later completed by Alfred Werner earning Werner a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Some of his organic research was connected to isomerism of chemical molecules. The experimental work on the hydrolysis of 1,1-dichloroethane, which yielded glycol, and the chlorination of acetaldehyde giving 1,2-dichloroethane provided a good starting point for the development of the theory of the constitution of compounds with the same chemical formula, but different bond structure.
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