Hermann Staudinger, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1953

Hermann Staudinger (23 March 1881 – 8 September 1965) was a German chemist who demonstrated the existence of macromolecules, which he characterized as polymers. For this work he received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry". He is also known for his discovery of ketenes and of the Staudinger reaction.

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From Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964:

Hermann Staudinger was born in Worms on the 23rd of March 1881. His father was Dr. Franz Staudinger.

Staudinger was educated in Worms, matriculated in 1899, and continued his studies first at the University of Halle, later at Darmstadt and Munich. He graduated at Halle in 1903 and qualified for inauguration as academic lecturer under Professor Thiele at Strasbourg University in spring 1907. In November 1907 he was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry of the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. For fourteen years, from 1912, he was lecturer at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, and in 1926 followed the invitation of the University of Freiburg i. Br. to become Lecturer of Chemistry. ln this city, he remained all through his further career. From 1940 onwards he held an additional appointment as Principal of the Research Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry. Staudinger resigned from his post as Principal of the Chemical Laboratories of the University in April 1951, and accepted the honorary appointment as Head of the State Research Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, which he held until April 1956.

Staudinger was a prolific writer and the following books by him have been published: Die Ketene (Ketenes), published by Enke, Stuttgart, 1912; Anleitung zur organischen qualitativen Analyse (Introduction to organic qualitative analysis), published by Springer, Berlin, 1st edition 1923, 5th edition 1948, 6th edition 1955; Tabellen zu den Vorlesungen über allgemeine und anorganische Chemie (Tables for the lectures on general and inorganic chemistry), published by Braun, Karlsruhe, 1st edition 1927, 5th edition 1947; Die hochmolekularen organischen Verbindungen, Kautschak und Cellulose (The high-molecular organic compounds, rubber and cellulose), published by Springer, Berlin, 1932; Organische Kolloidchemie (Organic colloid chemistry), published by Vieweg, Braunschweig, 1st edition 1940, 3rd edition 1950; Fortschritte der Chemie, Physik und Technik der makromolekularen Stoffe (Progress of the chemistry, physics and technique of the macromolecular substances), jointly with Professor Vieweg and Professor Röhrs, Volume 1, 1939, Volume II, 1942, publisher Lehmann, Munich; Makromolekulare Chemie und Biologie (Macromolecular chemistry and biology), publisher Wepf & Co., Basle, 1947; Vom Aufstand der technischen Sklaven (The uprising of the technical slave), published by Chamier, Essen-Freiburg, 1947.

Since September 1947 Staudinger has edited the periodical Die makromolekulare Chemie (Macromolecular chemistry), published by Dr. A. Hüthig, Heidelberg and Wepf & Co., Basle.

In 1961 his book Arbeitserinnerungen (Working memoirs) appeared, published by Dr. A. Hüthig, Heidelberg.

Besides the books, Staudinger published a great number of scientific papers. Among these were fifty on ketenes, also works on oxalyl chloride, autoxidation, aliphatic diazo-compounds, explosions, insecticides, synthetic pepper and coffee aroma. Since 1920 he has written approximately 500 papers on macromolecular compounds, about 120 of these on cellulose, about 50 on rubber and isoprene.

For his work Staudinger received many honours and awards; to mention but a few - he is Dr. Ing. h.c. of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe; Dr. rer. nat. h.c. of the University of Mainz; Dr. (C) h.c. of the University of Salamanca; Dr. chem. h.c. of the University of Torino; Dr. sc. techn. h.c. of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich; and Dr. h.c. of the University of Strasbourg. In 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry. In 1933 he was honoured with the Cannizzarro Prize of the Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Roma. He is member of the Institut de France, and member and honorary member of many Chemical Societies and the Society of Macromolecular Chemistry in Tokyo.

Hermann Staudinger is married to Magda Woit, who is for many years his co-worker and co-author of numerous publications.

Hermann Staudinger was born in 1881 in Worms. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Halle in 1903, Staudinger took a position at the University of Strasbourg.

Figure 1. The general structure of a ketene is R2C=C=O. Hydrogen atoms may take the place of the R-groups present in this diagram. It was here that he discovered the ketenes, a family of molecules characterized by the general form depicted in Figure 1.[1] Ketenes would prove a synthetically important intermediate for the production of yet-to-be-discovered antibiotics such as penicillin and amoxicillin. In 1907, Staudinger began an assistant professorship at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. Here, he successfully isolated a number of useful organic compounds (including a synthetic coffee flavoring) as more completely reviewed by Rolf Mülhaupt.[2] [edit]The Staudinger reaction

In 1912, Staudinger took on a new position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. One of his earliest discoveries came in 1919, when he and colleague Meyer reported that azides react with triphenylphosphine to form phosphazide (Figure 2).[3] This reaction – commonly referred to as the Staudinger reaction – produces a high phosphazide yield.[4]

Figure 2. Triphenylphosphine and an azide react to form a phosphazide and gaseous nitrogen by the Staudinger reaction. [edit]Polymer chemistry

While at Karlsruhe and later, Zurich, Staudinger began research in the chemistry of rubber, for which very high molecular weights had been measured by the physical methods of Raoult and van 't Hoff. Contrary to prevailing ideas (see below), Staudinger proposed in a landmark paper published in 1920 that rubber and other polymeric substances such as starch, cellulose and proteins are long chains of short repeating molecular units linked by covalent bonds.[5] In other words, polymers are like chains of paper clips, made up of small constituent parts linked from end to end (Figure 3).

Figure 3. A chain of paper clips (above) is a good model for a polymer such as polylactic acid (below). The polymer chain is composed of small pieces linked together in a head-to-tail fashion. At the time leading organic chemists such as Emil Fischer and Heinrich Wieland[2][6] believed that the measured high molecular weights were only apparent values caused by the aggregation of small molecules into colloids. At first the majority of Staudinger’s colleagues refused to accept the possibility that small molecules could link together covalently to form high-molecular weight compounds. As Mülhaupt aptly notes, this is due in part to the fact that molecular structure and bonding theory were not fully understood in the early 20th century.[2] Further evidence to support Staudinger’s hypothesis emerged in the 1930s. High molecular weights of polymers were confirmed by membrane osmometry, and also by Staudinger’s measurements of viscosity in solution. The X-ray diffraction studies of polymers by Herman Mark provided direct evidence for long chains of repeating molecular units. And the synthetic work led by Carothers demonstrated that polymers such as nylon and polyester could be prepared by well-understood organic reactions. [edit]Legacy

Staudinger’s groundbreaking elucidation of the nature of the high-molecular weight compounds he termed Makromoleküle paved the way for the birth of the field of polymer chemistry.[7] Staudinger himself saw the potential for this science long before it was fully realized. “It is not improbable,” Staudinger smartly commented in 1936, “that sooner or later a way will be discovered to prepare artificial fibers from synthetic high-molecular products, because the strength and elasticity of natural fibers depend exclusively on their macro-molecular structure – i.e., on their long thread-shaped molecules.”[8] Staudinger founded the first polymer chemistry journal in 1940,[9] and in 1953 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry.”[10] In 1999, the American Chemical Society and Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker designated Staudinger's work as an International Historic Chemical Landmark.[11] His pioneering research has afforded the world myriad plastics, textiles, and other polymeric materials which make consumer products more affordable, attractive and fun, while also being a cause of problematic pollution. [edit]See also

Heidegger and Nazism#Denounced or demoted non-Nazis [edit]Notes

^ Hermann Staudinger (1905). "Ketene, eine neue Körperklasse". Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft 38 (2): 1735–1739. doi:10.1002/cber.19050380283. ^ a b c Mülhaupt, R. (2004). "Hermann Staudinger and the Origin of Macromolecular Chemistry". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 43 (9): 1054–1063. doi:10.1002/anie.200330070. PMID 14983438. ^ Staudinger, H.; Meyer, J. (1919). "Über neue organische Phosphorverbindungen III. Phosphinmethylenderivate und Phosphinimine". Helv. Chim. Acta 2 (1): 635–646. doi:10.1002/hlca.19190020164. ^ Breinbauer, R.; Kohn, M. (2004). "The Staudinger Ligation – A Gift to Chemical Biology". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 43 (24): 3106–3116. doi:10.1002/anie.200401744. PMID 15199557. ^ Staudinger, H. (1920). "Über Polymerisation". Ber. Deut. Chem. Ges. 53 (6): 1073. doi:10.1002/cber.19200530627. ^ Feldman, S. D.; Tauber, A. I. (1997). "Sickle Cell Anemia: Reexamining the First "Molecular Disease"". Bulletin of the History of Medicine 17 (4): 623–650. doi:10.1353/bhm.1997.0178. ^ Staudinger, H. (1933). "Viscosity investigations for the examination of the constitution of natural products of high molecular weight and of rubber and cellulose". Trans. Faraday Soc. 29 (140): 18–32. doi:10.1039/tf9332900018. ^ Staudinger, H.; Heuer, W.; Husemann, E.; Rabinovitch, I. J. (1936). "The insoluble polystyrene". Trans. Faraday Soc. 32: 323–335. doi:10.1039/tf9363200323. ^ Meisel, I.; Mülhaupt, R. (2003). "The 60th Anniversary of the First Polymer Journal (“Die Makromolekulare Chemie”): Moving to New Horizons". Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics 204 (2): 199. doi:10.1002/macp.200290078. ^ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1953 (accessed Mar 2006). ^ "Hermann Staudinger: Foundation of Polymer Science". International Historic Chemical Landmarks. American Chemical Society. Retrieved June 25, 2012. [edit]References

Helmut Ringsdorf (2004). "Hermann Staudinger and the Future of Polymer Research Jubilees – Beloved Occasions for Cultural Piety". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 43 (9): 1064–1076. doi:10.1002/anie.200330071. PMID 14983439. Heinrich Hopff (1969). "Hermann Staudinger 1881–1965". Chemische Berichte 102 (5): XLI. doi:10.1002/cber.19691020502. [edit]External links

Staudinger's Nobel Foundation biography Staudinger's Nobel Lecture Macromolecular Chemistry [hide] v t e Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (1951–1975) Edwin McMillan / Glenn T. Seaborg (1951) Archer Martin / Richard Synge (1952) Hermann Staudinger (1953) Linus Pauling (1954) Vincent du Vigneaud (1955) Cyril Hinshelwood / Nikolay Semyonov (1956) Alexander Todd (1957) Frederick Sanger (1958) Jaroslav Heyrovský (1959) Willard Libby (1960) Melvin Calvin (1961) Max Perutz / John Kendrew (1962) Karl Ziegler / Giulio Natta (1963) Dorothy Hodgkin (1964) Robert Woodward (1965) Robert S. Mulliken (1966) Manfred Eigen / Ronald Norrish / George Porter (1967) Lars Onsager (1968) Derek Barton / Odd Hassel (1969) Luis Federico Leloir (1970) Gerhard Herzberg (1971) Christian B. Anfinsen / Stanford Moore / William Stein (1972) E.O.Fischer / Geoffrey Wilkinson (1973) Paul Flory (1974) John Cornforth / Vladimir Prelog (1975) Complete list (1901–1925) (1926–1950) (1951–1975) (1976–2000) (2001–2025)

https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermanis_%C5%A0taudingers