Clemens Schöpf

Clemens Josef Schöpf (born August 12, 1899 in Gersfeld , † December 17, 1970 in Darmstadt ) was a German university professor and chemist who researched alkaloids .

Life and research

Schöpf began his chemistry studies at the Technical University of Munich and continued it until 1918 at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg , until he was awarded a Dr.-Ing. received his doctorate. At the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich he completed his habilitation under Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Otto Wieland in 1927 and in 1929 became full professor and director of the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt . Here he succeeded Hermann Finger .

As early as the 1920s and 1930s, Schöpf was working on the structure elucidation and synthesis of a large number of natural substances , especially alkaloids . His work on pteridines , morphine alkaloids , lupine alkaloids and salamander alkaloids are worth mentioning . The complete synthesis of tropinone, a precursor of atropine , which Robert Robinson succeeded in before but was optimized by Schöpf, is now called the Robinson-Schöpf synthesis .

Schöpf continued many of these research projects for decades and also took on other tasks, such as co-editing the specialist journal Chemischeberichte from 1947. He was particularly interested in explaining natural (also "biogenetic") reaction steps for the formation of alkaloids such as morphine, which he then tried to understand it under the most “physiological” or biomimetic conditions possible. He also investigated other important classes of substances, such as piperidines and berberines , up until the 1960s.

In honor of Clemens Schöpf, the Institute for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt has been called the “Clemens Schöpf Institute” since 2002/2003.

Schöpf was the son of the marriage of Josef Schöpf and Anna geb. Dietz. From his marriage to Charlotte geb. Fell (1903–89) had two sons, Albert and Erwin Schöpf .

honors and awards

• In 1940 Schöpf received the Emil Fischer Medal from the Association of German Chemists for his scientific successes
• 1942: Full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (since 1950 corresponding member)
• 1942: Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 1944: Corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
• 1959: Honorary doctorate from the University of Freiburg
• 1960: Paul Karrer Medal in gold

Publications (selection)

• 1926 - with H. Wieland: About the leukopterin, the white wing pigment of the cabbage whites (Pieris brassicae and P.napi) , in: Reports of the German Chemical Society (A and B), 59 (8), pp. 2067-2072
• 1927 - The constitution of the morphine alkaloids , in: Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie , 452 (1), pp. 211-267
• 1928 - with E. Schmidt: About the alkaloids of the lupins. Together with Otto Thomä, Erich Schmidt and Willy Braun . in: Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 465 (1), pp. 97–147
• 1934 - with W. Braun: About Samandarin, the main alkaloid in the poison of the fire and alpine salamander , in: Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 514 (1), pp. 69-136
• 1935 - with G. Lehmann: The synthesis of tropinone, pseudopelletierins, lobelanin and related alkaloids under physiological conditions , in: Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 518 (1), pp. 1-37
• 1947 - with A. Komzak, F. Braun, E. Jacobi, M.-L. Bormuth, M. Bullnheimer, I. Hagel: About the polymers of ∆1-piperidein , in: Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie, 559 (1), pp. 1-42
• 1952 - On the question of the biogenesis of morphine alkaloids , in: Naturwissenschaften, 39 (11), pp. 241–243
• 1965 - with M. Schweickert: About an alleged conformational isomer of tetrahydroberberine , in: Chemischeberichte, 98 (8), pp. 2566-2571

literature

• Christoph Rüchardt: The colors of the butterfly wings and other insects. The discovery of pterins in the Wieland school . In: 550 years of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. Alber, Freiburg 2007, Vol. 4, pp. 211-213.
• Regine Zott:  Schöpf, Clemens Josef. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 429 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ecompound.com: Robinson-Schöpf tropinone synthesis .
2. ↑ cf. Schöpf (1952): On the question of the biogenesis of morphine alkaloids .
3. ^ Entry German biography , accessed on June 21, 2018.
4. ↑ Prof. Dr. Clemens Schöpf. Member entry at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 20, 2016 . 
5. ^ Member entry of Clemens Schöpf at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on June 25, 2016.
6. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Clemens Schöpf at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 25, 2016.