Heinz A. Staab

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Heinz August Staab (born March 26, 1926 in Darmstadt ; † July 29, 2012 in Berlin ) was a German chemist and president of the Max Planck Society from 1984 to 1990 .

Life

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Studying chemistry at the Universities of Marburg and Tübingen with a degree in chemistry was followed by a doctorate in Heidelberg in 1953. As a post-doctoral student , he was with Richard Kuhn at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, where he also studied medicine and was awarded a Dr. med. PhD. In 1957 he completed his habilitation in Heidelberg. 1962 he was appointed as Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg appointed . From 1963 Staab worked there as a full professor and in 1974 became director of the organic chemistry department at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. From 1966 to 1968 he was dean at the university and vice-rector from 1968 to 1970. In 1996 he retired.

1981 to 1982 he was chairman of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors . From 1984 to 1990 he was President of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science .

Heinz A. Staab was 86 years old in Berlin and was buried in the Zehlendorf cemetery there (field 012-399).

Act

Staab worked in the field of heterocyclic chemistry. He dealt with kinetic and spectroscopic investigations of this group of compounds and with their application in preparative organic chemistry. Further research focuses were physical and synthetic organic chemistry as well as bio-organic chemistry, in particular investigations of the molecular structure and its relationship to physical, chemical and biological properties.

In the 1950s he introduced carbonyldiimidazole (also Staab reagent ) as a phosgene substitute in organic synthesis and especially in peptide chemistry, where it was widely used.

Kekulen

In 1978 he and his doctoral student François Diederich succeeded in synthesizing a ring of 12 benzene rings, Kekulen , and on it and other benzene-fused compounds, he investigated the aromaticity (benzenoid and annulenoid aromaticity). They were also the first examples of rigid macro-cycles. In the early 1970s he synthesized cyclophanes (aromatics with bridges) and used them to study landing transfer and electron transfer reactions. Among other things, he synthesized and investigated models for the photochemically induced electron transfer in photosynthesis (using laser spectroscopy with short pulses in organic chemistry earlier).

He is also known for his textbook Theoretical Organic Chemistry , first published in 1959 , in which he also presented the then new spectroscopic methods such as NMR spectroscopy for organic chemists. He has published over 340 scientific papers.

As Max Planck President, he took particular care of relations with Israel and promoted the elucidation of the involvement of German science in National Socialism.

Honors and memberships

Staab was a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences ; from 1994 to 1996 he was President of the Academy. He was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (since 1974) and the Academia Europaea . He was also a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences .

He was an honorary member of the Indian Academy of Sciences; He was awarded an honorary professorship by the Academia Sinica , and he was also an honorary doctor of the Weizmann Institute . In 1979 he received the Adolf von Baeyer Medal from the Society of German Chemists . 1991 Prime Minister gave him Erwin Teufel , the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg . In 1996 he was awarded the Harnack Medal , the highest award for special services to the Max Planck Society. In 1999 he became an honorary member of the Society of German Chemists (GDCh), of which he was president from 1984 to 1985.

From 1976 to 1979 he was a member of the Science Council of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Works

  • Heinz A. Staab: Introduction to Theoretical Organic Chemistry , Verlag Chemie, Weinheim 1959 (numerous new editions and reprints, e.g. the 3rd reprint of the 4th edition 1966 1975, ISBN 3-527-25277-0 ).
  • Heinz A. Staab, Helmut Bauer, Karin M. Schneider: Azolides in Organic Synthesis and Biochemistry , Wiley-VCH 1998.
  • Heinz A. Staab: On the emergence of the new in the natural sciences - illustrated using an example from the history of chemistry , session reports Heidelberger Akad. Wiss., Math.-Naturwiss. Class 1985.
  • Peter Frieß, Andreas Fickers (eds.): Heinz A. Staab and Michael Sela talk about the scientific cooperation between Israel and Germany as a basis for international understanding (= TechnikDialog , issue 4), Deutsches Museum , Bonn 1995, OCLC 3924183937 (the ISBN 3-924183-93-7 was awarded twice).

literature

  • Ernst Guggolz: Heinz A. Staab: "For me, the focus was always on scientific work" (series of contemporary witnesses in portraits), in: Nachrichten aus Chemie, Technik und Laboratorium 47 (1999), pages 942-944.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz A. Staab: Synthesis, properties and preparative use of N, N′-carbonyl-di-imidazole , Angewandte Chemie, Volume 68, 1956, p. 754.
  2. ^ Diederich, François; Staab, Heinz A .: Benzenoidversus Annulenoid Aromaticity: Synthesis and Properties of Kekulene , Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Volume 17, 1978, pp. 372-374.
  3. ^ German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina: List of Members. Accessed October 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ List of medal recipients 1975–2019. (PDF; 180 kB) State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, p. 34 , accessed on June 12, 2019 .


personal data
SURNAME Staab, Heinz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Staab, Heinz August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist, President of the Max Planck Society (1984–1990)
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 2012
Place of death Berlin