Johannes Martin Bijvoet

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JM Bijvoet (1931)

Johannes Martin Bijvoet (born January 23, 1892 in Amsterdam ; † March 4, 1980 in Winterswijk ) was a Dutch chemist and crystallographer in the "General Chemistry" department at Utrecht University . He became famous for developing a method for determining the absolute configuration of molecules.

life and work

Bijvoet received his doctorate in 1923 under Andreas Smits at the University of Amsterdam with the topic X-Ray investigation of the crystal structure of lithium and lithium hydrides The concept of tetrahedral bonding in organic molecules goes back to the work of Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff and Joseph Achille Le Bel in 1874. At that time it was impossible to determine the absolute configuration of a molecule. The configuration was determined using the projection method developed by Emil Fischer for comparison with glyceraldehyde , the absolute configuration of which was determined arbitrarily by Fischer. The right-handed enantiomer was arbitrarily assigned the projection with the OH residue pointing to the right and this was designated as the D configuration, from the Latin dexter: "right". If sugars were broken down into dextrorotatory glyceraldehyde, they were also assigned the D configuration.

In 1949, Bijvoet designed his principle based on the anomalous dispersion of X-rays. In 1951, the absolute configuration of sodium rubidium tartrate was demonstrated.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Albert Gossauer: Structure and reactivity of biomolecules. Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta, Zurich 2006, p. 60, ISBN 3-906390-29-2 .
  2. Life data, publications and academic family tree of Johannes M. Bijvoet at academictree.org, accessed on January 7, 2018.
  3. JM Bijvoet: Phase determination in direct Fourier synthesis of crystal structures . In: Proc. Acad. Sci. Amst. tape 52 , 1949, pp. 313 .
  4. JM Bijvoet, AF Peerdeman, AJ van Bommel: Determination of the absolute configuration of optically active compounds by means of X-rays . In: Proc. Acad. Sci. Amst. tape 54 , 1951, pp. 16 .
  5. JM Bijvoet, AF Peerdeman, AJ van Bommel: Determination of the absolute configuration of optically active compounds by means of X-rays . In: Nature . tape 168 , no. 4268 , 1951, pp. 271-272 , doi : 10.1038 / 168271a0 .