Friedrich Stolz (chemist)

Karl Ludwig Friedrich Stolz (born April 6, 1860 in Heilbronn ; † April 2, 1936 in Frankfurt-Höchst ) was a German chemist who worked for Hoechst for 40 years, where he last headed the central laboratory. He is the inventor of the pain reliever aminophenazon (trade name Pyramidon , 1897). With the chemical synthesis of adrenaline (as a racemate ) Friedrich Stolz succeeded for the first time in the artificial production of a hormone in 1904 .

Life

He was the son of Heilbronn chemist Friedrich Conrad Stolz (1825–1886), who at the time Friedrich was born was still running the Heilbronn lead white factory in Bläß . The father came from an old family of pharmacists and in 1862 bought the pharmacy in Ebersbach an der Fils , where the family moved in 1863. Friedrich attended elementary school in Ebersbach and then the Progymnasium in Schwäbisch Hall . Then in 1875 he began a pharmaceutical training with his uncle, the pharmacist Karl Stolz in Kupferzell . After the assistant examination in 1878 he worked as a pharmacist's assistant in Weinsberg and in the Safe Pharmacy in Heilbronn. After military service as a one-year volunteer, he studied pharmacy in Munich from 1883 and in 1884 took up a second degree in chemistry with Adolf von Baeyer , whose assistant he became and stayed for the time being, despite the temporary emigration plans and different career aspirations of his parents.

In 1890 he accepted a job offer as a laboratory employee in the laboratory of the Hoechst paintworks in Frankfurt am Main. There he worked on the further development of an antipyretic pain reliever that did not have the side effects of the antipyrine that Ludwig Knorr had recently discovered . By 1893, Stolz developed the aminophenazone called pyramidon , which was patented in 1897 after a long test phase and was widely used worldwide.

He became head of the scientific laboratories at Hoechst and then devoted himself to the development of artificial hormones . Spurred on by Jōkichi Takamine and Thomas Aldrich's first successful extraction of adrenaline from animal kidneys in 1904, Stolz succeeded in synthesizing the hormone for the first time in 1904, which he presented to the natural scientist meeting in Stuttgart in 1906 and substantiated it in 1910 with the proof of the identity of natural and synthetic hormones. Stolz's synthetic adrenaline became known as the Suprarenin .

His further research focused on salvarsan chemistry , novocaine , nirvanol and ephedrine ; he was instrumental in around 50 patents from the Hoechst works. For his life's work he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Marburg in 1930 on the occasion of his 40th anniversary with Hoechst .

From 1900 he was married to the lawyer daughter Helene Kerler (1877–1961). The marriage had two daughters. Pride is described as a meticulous worker, but also as a taciturn and sarcastic Swabian whose only passion besides his job was cycling.

In 1957 a tanker from the Hoechst paintworks was named after him, and a plaque of honor was put up for him at the Robert Mayer High School in Heilbronn. His grave is in the cemetery in Frankfurt-Höchst (Gewann 3 V 32).

literature

• Helmut Schmolz, Hubert Weckbach: Important Heilbronn . In: Swabia and Franconia. Local history supplement of the Heilbronn voice . 14th year, no. 9 . Heilbronner Voice publishing house, September 14, 1968, ZDB -ID 128017-X .
• Hubert Weckbach: With a pyramidon against fever and pain - Friedrich Stolz (1860–1936) . In: Heilbronn City Archives (ed.): Heilbronner Köpfe II . 1999, p. 159-172 .
• Helmut Schmolz: A benefactor of humanity: Dr. phil., Dr. med. hc Karl Ludwig Friedrich Stolz (April 6, 1860– April 2, 1936) . In: Heilbronner, which are history . Neckarwestheim 2000.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weckbach 1999, p. 159.
2. ↑ Guide to the graves of well-known personalities in Frankfurt cemeteries . Frankfurt am Main 1985, p. 57