Albert Knoll (chemist)

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Georg Wilhelm Albert Knoll (born June 4, 1858 in Braunschweig , † May 1, 1952 in Baden-Baden ) was a German chemist and entrepreneur. He led the Knoll Chemical Factory, later Knoll AG , which he founded in 1886, to become a company with international renown.

life and work

The son of the Braunschweig master tailor and member of the magistrate, Friedrich Wilhelm Knoll (1817–1880), passed his Abitur at the Braunschweiger Realgymnasium.

Studies and first years of employment

After a year of apprenticeship at the Buchler quinine factory , a two-year course in technical chemistry at the Braunschweig Collegium Carolinum followed in the winter semester of 1875 . During his studies he became a member of the Braunschweig fraternity of Germania in 1876 . In 1877 he received an award for the best term paper. His academic teachers were Robert Otto and Friedrich Knapp . Knoll continued his chemistry studies in 1877 at the University of Göttingen , where he heard from Friedrich Wöhler . It was 1878 when Hans Hübner Dr. phil did his doctorate and then went back to Braunschweig, where he worked as Otto's lecture assistant until 1879. This was followed by a position as assistant director in the Bauer stoneware factory in Magdeburg . After completing his military service in 1880, he worked as a chemist at the Dresden pharmaceutical company Gehe & Compagnie , where his brother, the businessman Hans Knoll, and his friend and later brother-in-law Max Daege also worked. In 1885 Knoll started working for JA Wink & Compagnie Limited in England, where he invented an economical process for converting morphine into codeine by means of methylation in 1886 . The cough suppressant effect of codeine was discovered around 1875. Since it only occurs in poppy seed capsules with a content of less than 1%, the isolation was complex and the price very high. Through Knoll's method, drugs containing codeine became available to a broader population.

Founding of the chemical factory Knoll

Knoll returned to Germany in 1886 and joined Max Daege's small company , which he had taken over in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . There he successfully produced morphine derivatives on an industrial scale and in August 1886 patented the production process for codeine and ethylmorphine. On October 23, 1886, Knoll founded the chemical factory Knoll & Compagnie together with his brother Hans Knoll (Privy Councilor of Commerce) and his brother-in-law Max Daege . A little later, Knoll developed an economical process for the production of theobromine from cocoa shells . This made it possible to reduce the price of the extremely expensive substance to one eighth of the previous one and make it available for general therapeutic use as a diuretic . In 1891 the first foreign production facility was founded in Liestal in Switzerland. The company had a worldwide reputation even before the First World War . Knoll was managing director until 1925. In that year the company was converted into a public limited company. Knoll was a member of the supervisory board until 1938 and was chairman of the supervisory board since 1930.

In 1948 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr. med. Hc) by the University of Würzburg .

Afterlife

The majority in Knoll AG in Ludwigshafen am Rhein was taken over by BASF in 1975 . In 1982 Knoll AG became a 100% BASF subsidiary. In 2001 the pharmaceutical company Abbott took over the pharmaceutical business of BASF AG.

The Albert Knoll Prize , donated by Knoll AG, is awarded annually for outstanding work in the field of internal medicine.

Works (selection)

  • About codeine . In: Central Pharmaceutical Hall 30, 1889, p. 39

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. List of the members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934, p. 253.
personal data
SURNAME Knoll, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knoll, Georg Wilhelm Albert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1952
Place of death Baden-Baden