Hermann Schildknecht
Hermann Schildknecht (* 2. August 1922 in Fuerth , † 1. July 1996 in Heidelberg ) was a German natural products - chemists .
Life
He studied chemistry at the University of Erlangen , received his doctorate in 1953 under Emil Buchta and qualified as a professor in 1959 in chemistry. In 1963 he went to the Organic Chemistry Institute of Heidelberg University as associate professor and successor to Otto Theodor Schmidt , and became its director in 1964. In 1989 he retired.
Schildknecht's main area of interest was the defense behavior of various bombardier beetle species . He found that before the explosion they first mixed two very reactive chemicals in a collection bubble, hydroquinone (C 6 H 6 O 2 ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). When an enemy approaches, the bombardier beetles inject this mixture into a reaction chamber and add the enzymes catalase and peroxidase at exactly the right moment to accelerate the reaction. This catalyst converts the hydroquinone to quinone (C 6 H 4 O 2 ) and the hydrogen peroxide to water (H 2 O) and oxygen (O 2 ). During this chemical reaction, heat is released and high pressure is also created. Then a caustic gas mixture at around 100 ° C shoots at the attacker with a bang from two glands on the anus. The overall equation for this reaction is:
Honors and memberships
Hermann Schildknecht received the Richard Kuhn Medal in Heidelberg in 1974 . He had been a member of the Leopoldina since 1972 and of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences since 1976 .
Fonts (selection)
- Hormones of the photodynamics of more highly organized plants. Berlin 1986.
- Turgorins, hormones of the endogenous daily rhythm of highly organized plants - detection, isolation, structure elucidation, synthesis and effect. In: Angewandte Chemie. 95, 1983, pp. 689-705, doi : 10.1002 / anie.19830950905 .
- Irritants and antibodies of higher plants - a chemical herbarium. In: Angewandte Chemie. 93, 1981, pp. 164-183, doi : 10.1002 / anie.19810930207 .
- About the chemistry of the sensory plant Mimosa pudica L. Springer, Berlin 1978.
- Zone melting. Chemistry, Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, New York, London 1966.
- Zone melting. Chemistry, Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, 1964.
- Symposium on zone melting and column crystallization. Karlsruhe 1963.
- About zone melting. 1959.
literature
- Rolf Gleiter, Klaus Maas: Hermann Schildknecht. In: Yearbook of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. 1996/97.
- Schildknecht, Hermann. In: German Biographical Encyclopedia . Vol. 8 (2007), p. 856 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Hermann Schildknecht in the catalog of the German National Library
- Hermann Schildknecht on the website of Heidelberg University
Individual evidence
- ^ Member entry by Hermann Schildknecht at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 20, 2016.
- ↑ Prof. Dr. Hermann Schildknecht. with picture. Member entry at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 20, 2016 .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Schildknecht, Hermann |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chemist |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 2, 1922 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Fuerth |
DATE OF DEATH | July 1, 1996 |
Place of death | Heidelberg |