Hermann Leuchs

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Friedrich Hermann Leuchs (born August 26, 1879 in Nuremberg ; † uncertain May 2, 1945 in Berlin ) was a German chemist.

life and work

Leuchs studied chemistry and received his doctorate in 1902 under Emil Fischer in Berlin . He slowly rose in the hierarchy of the Berlin University and was appointed full professor in 1916. Although he was promised to succeed Emil Fischer, who died in 1919, as head of the institute, Wilhelm Schlenk was offered this position, which put a significant strain on the relationship between the two. When Schlenk had to leave the institute for political reasons in 1935, Leuchs succeeded it. In 1938 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1942 he was regarded as "no longer reliable" and was replaced by Erich Tiede , the previous head of the inorganic chemistry department .

He dealt mainly with the chemistry of amino acids and strychnine .

The Leuchs' anhydrides are named after him , and he also developed the N -carboxylic acid anhydride method .

His psychological problems, which were observed at an early age, grew over time and his biographer says of him: " In the last years of his life he was a despiser to the extent that he no longer hid it. " The rule of the National Socialists, the Second World War and the destruction of Berlin made its condition worse. Probably on May 2, 1945, Leuchs put an end to his life in his Berlin apartment.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Louis Fieser , Mary Fieser: Organische Chemie , Verlag Chemie Weinheim, 2nd edition, 1972, p. 1523, ISBN 3-527-25075-1 .
  2. ^ Biographical data, publications and academic family tree of F. Hermann Leuchs at academictree.org, accessed on March 7, 2018.
  3. ^ Member entry by Hermann Leuchs at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on May 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ Historical note at the Humboldt University (PDF) ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 22, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.hu-berlin.de
  5. ↑ a b c Kröhnke, Fritz: Hermann Leuchs. 1879-1945 . In: Chemical Reports . 85, 1952, pp. LV-LXXXIX. doi : 10.1002 / cber.19520851102 .
  6. ↑ Hans-Dieter Jakubke, Hans Jeschkeit: Amino acids, peptides, proteins. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, pp. 164-166, 1982, ISBN 3-527-25892-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Leuchs, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leuchs, Friedrich Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: May 2, 1945
Place of death Berlin