Karl Smeykal

Karl Smeykal

Karl Smeykal (born September 11, 1900 in Munich , † December 22, 1980 in Leuna ) was a German chemist .

Life

Karl Smeykal studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich . He received his doctorate there as an employee of Hans Fischer . In 1926, Smeykal joined BASF in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . In 1929 he was transferred to the Merseburg ammonia works in Leuna , later known as the Leuna works , where he worked in research from 1930. From 1933, Smeykal played a key role in setting up the first amine factory in Leuna and in the technical implementation of the sulfochlorination of paraffinic hydrocarbons and the subsequent production of the synthetic surfactant and detergent base E 30. After the end of the war he was initially entrusted with setting up the pharmaceutical department before he was committed to scientific work in the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1954 as part of Operation OSOAWIACHIM . His whereabouts there were Leningrad (1946–1952) and Rubizhne (1952–1954).

From 1954, Smeykal headed the central test laboratory, which later became the research department for petrochemistry and organic intermediates at the Leuna-Werke . Smeykal played a key role in the synthesis of formamide and dimethylformamide , which was implemented on an industrial scale.

In 1960 he received the National Prize of the GDR , and in 1965 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Merseburg .

Publications (selection)

• Fischer H, Smeykal K: Some new nitrogen-substituted pyrrole aldehydes and oxindole aldehydes , reports of the German Chemical Society 56 (1923) 2368-2378.
• Fischer H, Smeykal K: On the knowledge of the di-beta-pyrryl-methene , reports of the German Chemical Society 57 (1924) 544-550.
• Freudenberg K, Smeykal K: On the knowledge of acetone sugars, VII .: The constitution of diaceton-galactose , reports of the German chemical society 59 (1926) 100-107.
• Smeykal K, Baltz H, Fischer H: About the auto-oxidation of the tertiary esters of phosphorous acid , Journal für Praktische Chemie 22 (1963) 186-191.
• Smeykal K, Pritzkow W, Mahler G, Kretschmann K, Rühlmann E: On the nitrosodecarboxylation of aliphatic carboxylic acids , Journal für Praktische Chemie 30 (1965) 126-130.

Patents (selection)

• K. Smeykal, F. Asinger : Columns of mineral oil emulsions . IG Farbenindustrie Akt.-Gesellschaft 1942 - German Patent Office: Patents
• P. Herold, K. Smeykal, F. Asinger, F. von der Horst: Production of organic sulfur compounds . IG Farbenindustrie Akt.-Gesellschaft 1942 - German Patent Office: Patents
• K. Smeykal: Catalytic Purification of Oxygen-Containing Hydrogenation Products of Oxides of Carbon . United States Patent Office. Patented Nov. 3 (1936). Patent No. 2,059,495