Anton Köllisch

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Anton Georg Köllisch (born March 16, 1888 in Mannheim ; † September 1916 ) was a German chemist . In 1912 he was the first to synthesize the substance 3,4-methylenedioxy- N- methylamphetamine - later known under the abbreviation MDMA .

life and work

Köllisch received his doctorate in 1911 under Emil Fischer at the University of Berlin in the field of indole synthesis from hydrazones. There he worked with Otto Diels . The N -methyl-α-acetyl-indole produced by him showed morphine-like effects. On October 1, he began working as a chemist at the pharmaceutical and chemical company E. Merck in Darmstadt. Köllisch fell in the First World War in 1916 .

MDMA, possibly unconventionally called methylsafrylamine at the time, was obtained as an intermediate in the synthesis of hydrastinine and its derivatives . Köllisch's actual goal was to develop an alternative to the semi-synthetic hydrastinine, whose synthetic route had been registered for a patent years earlier by Merck's competitor Bayer . Hydrastinine was the best hemostatic agent at the time, and Köllisch wanted to produce methylhydrastinine, a substance that could circumvent the Bayer patent. The substance MDMA itself was not patented by Merck. In this process patent it is only characterized under Example 4 by: “... forms a colorless oil that boils at 155 ° under 20 mm pressure. The hydrochloric acid salt forms coarse white crystals that melt at 148 to 150 °. ” His synthesis route to methylhydrastinine-like substances was patented at the same time.

It took 15 years before MDMA was first pharmacologically tested after the first synthesis. The psychoactive properties of MDMA were not recognized until many years later.

Trivia

The fictional high school in the How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) series is named after Anton Köllisch.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Köllisch: On the knowledge of diacetyl. I. On the usefulness of the diacetylphenylhydrazones for condensations. II. On attempts to convert the diacetyl into a ketotetrose , inaugural dissertation, Berlin: E. Ebering 1911
  2. ↑ Otto Diels, Anton Köllisch: On the knowledge of diacetyl: About the diacetyl-monophenylhydrazones and their usability for condensation. In: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 44, 1911, p. 263, doi : 10.1002 / cber.19110440140 .
  3. ↑ Otto Diels, Walther Dürst: About N-methyl-α-acetyl-indole. In: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 47, 1914, p. 284, doi : 10.1002 / cber.19140470144 .
  4. ↑ Patent DE 274350 of December 24, 1912. - As was customary at that time, the inventor of the company was not named.
  5. ↑ Patent DE 279194 of December 24, 1912, issued October 15, 1914.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Köllisch, Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Köllisch, Anton Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH September 1916