Paul Pfeiffer (chemist)

Paul Pfeiffer, around 1914

Paul Pfeiffer (born April 21, 1875 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal ), † March 4, 1951 in Bonn ) was a German chemist .

Life

As the son of the tape manufacturer Hermann Pfeiffer and Emilie, b. Willmud, he studied from 1893 at the University of Bonn and from the following year at the University of Zurich with Alfred Werner . He received his doctorate from Werner in 1898 and worked as his assistant. In 1899 he undertook further studies with Wilhelm Ostwald in Leipzig and with Arthur Hantzsch in Würzburg . In 1900 he went back to Zurich, where, after completing his habilitation, he became a private lecturer at the university and married his cousin Julie Hüttenhoff. In 1908 he became associate professor for theoretical chemistry and in 1914 dean. In the same year Franz Wittka became his assistant.

In 1916 Adolf Heydweiller (1856–1926) asked him to apply to Rostock and in 1919 he was appointed full professor at the University of Rostock . In 1919 he moved to the TH Karlsruhe as the successor to Carl Engler and in 1922, as the successor to Richard Anschütz , to the University of Bonn, where he retired in 1947. In 1931/32 he was the rector of the university. In 1925 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

plant

As a student of Werner Pfeiffer dealt with complex chemistry and his investigation of chromium complexes in his dissertation (with division into optically active enantiomers ) contributed to the implementation of the theory of complex compounds (coordination theory) of his teacher Werner, for which he received the Nobel Prize. He also applied them to crystal structures, to hydroxo complexes of heavy metals and salt formation of complexes, as well as in biochemistry. His research on the behavior of amino acids towards neutral salts from 1912 onwards is also known. In 1927 he investigated clathrates . He also researched halochromism and complex compounds with dye properties. The Pfeiffer effect is named after him, according to which the presence of an optically active substance influences the optical behavior of a second substance present as a racemate . Normally there is no rotation of the plane of polarization in the racemate, but this can be changed by additional optically active substances that influence the substance present as the racemate.

He was co-editor of the journal for practical chemistry . In 1925 the TH Karlsruhe and in 1943 the University of Bonn awarded him an honorary doctorate .

Publications

• Paul Pfeiffer: The crystals as molecular compounds . In: Journal of Inorganic and General Chemistry . tape 92 , no. 1 , 1915, p. 376-380 , doi : 10.1002 / zaac.19150920126 .
• Paul Pfeiffer: Organic Molecular Compounds (Chemistry in Individual Representations; Volume 11). F. Enke publishing house, Stuttgart, 1922.
• Paul Pfeiffer: The importance of coordination theory for organic and physiological chemistry . In: Natural Sciences . tape 14 , no. 48-49 , 1926, pp. 1100-1108 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01451726 .
• Paul Pfeiffer, Kurt Quehl: Activation of complex salts in aqueous solution . In: Reports of the German Chemical Society (A and B Series) . tape 65 , no. 4 , 1932, pp. 560-565 , doi : 10.1002 / cber.19320650410 .

literature

• Ralph E. Oesper: Paul Pfeiffer . In: Journal of Chemical Education . tape 28 , no. 2 , 1951, p. 62 , doi : 10.1021 / ed028p62 .
• Robert Wizinger-Aust : P. Pfeiffer's contribution to the development of complex chemistry . In: Angewandte Chemie . tape 62 , no. 9-10 , 1950, pp. 201-205 , doi : 10.1002 / anie.19500620902 .
• Winfried Pötsch u. a. Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989

Web links

• Evelyn Boesch Trüeb: Pfeiffer, Paul. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Paul Pfeiffer's estate in the ULB Bonn
• Entry by Paul Pfeiffer in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
• Member entry of Paul Pfeiffer at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on 26 September 2017th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Evelyn Boesch Trüeb: Pfeiffer, Paul. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
2. ^ Lutz H. Gade: Alfred Werner's coordination theory: "An ingenious insolence" . In: Chemistry in Our Time . tape 36 , no. 3 , 2002, p. 168–175 , doi : 10.1002 / 1521-3781 (200206) 36: 3 <168 :: AID-CIUZ168> 3.0.CO; 2-3 ( PDF file; 439 kB ).
3. ↑ Walther Gerlach:  Heydweiller, Adolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 77 f. ( Digitized version ).
4. ↑ P. Pfeiffer, J. v. Modelski: Behavior of amino acids and polypeptides against neutral salts. I. Communication . In: Hoppe-Seyler's journal for physiological chemistry . tape 81 , no. 4 , 1912, pp. 329–354 , doi : 10.1515 / bchm2.1912.81.4.329 .
5. ↑ P. Pfeiffer, K. Quehl: Activation of complex salts in aqueous solution (II. Communication) . In: Reports of the German Chemical Society (A and B Series) . tape 65 , no. 4 , 1932, pp. 560-565 , doi : 10.1002 / cber.19320650410 .