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Gottlieb Kirchhoff

Gottlieb Sigismund Kirchhoff
Born (1764-02-19)19 February 1764
Teterow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Died 14 February 1833(1833-02-14) (aged 68)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Residence Russia
Fields Chemistry
Known for

Hydrolysis of starch into a sugar.


Refining vegetable oil.

Hydrolysis of starch into a sugar.

Gottlieb Sigismund Constantin Kirchhoff (19 February 1764 – 14 February 1833) was a German chemist. In 1811 he became the first person to convert starch into a sugar (corn syrup), by heating it with sulfuric acid. This sugar was eventually named glucose. He also developed a method of refining vegetable oil, and established a factory that prepared two tons of refined oil a day.

Since the sulfuric acid was not consumed, it was an early example of a catalyst. (A term that Jöns Jacob Berzelius would later coin.)



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