Werner Schwarze (chemist)

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Werner Black (1984)

Werner Schwarze (born June 29, 1913 in Marl -Hüls; † March 18, 2007 in Frankfurt am Main ) became known as a chemist and inventor in the second half of the 20th century.

life and work

Since 1931, Schwarze studied medicine at the Georg-August University in Göttingen . After just three semesters he passed his pre-physics course and then fled to the supposedly more liberal Munich from the burgeoning Nazi intolerance. This also involved a change of subject. From then on he devoted himself to chemistry. He passed his association examination in 1935 and received his doctorate on April 7, 1938 under Heinrich Otto Wieland . The topic of the doctoral thesis was the chemistry of natural products with a focus on the alkaloids of Lobelia inflanta . In Heinrich Wieland's private laboratory, Schwarze worked side by side with the later Nobel Prize winner Feodor Lynen on the mode of action of dehydrating enzymes. Interrupted by several deployments as an infantryman in the war against the Soviet Union and by hospital stays, Schwarze had been with Degussa AG since 1940 . There he spent his entire professional career in organic chemical research at different locations (Konstanz, Frankfurt am Main, Hanau).

In the early post-war years, war returnees aroused pity on black people with hunger edema. So he set about developing a synthesis for the essential α-aminocarboxylic acid methionine. On closer inspection, Schwarze developed a synthesis for the racemic DL - methionine . From this, the Degussa subsidiary Chemiewerk Homburg developed DL - N -acetylmethionine as a liver and skin protective agent in addition to DL -methionine , which was marketed under the name Thiomedon ® (D). However, another application for DL methionine became commercially successful . Today DL methionine is used on a large scale at home and abroad to supplement natural animal feed . The nutritional value of feed can be significantly increased by adding small amounts of DL methionine . Werner Schwarze is also referred to as the "father of methionine" in specialist circles. He carried out numerous other works on the chemical synthesis of various α- amino acids .

Bladex ® triazine herbicide

In the chemistry of 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazines, black people achieved outstanding success. After the chemical company Geigy AG in Basel patented the first herbicide with the basic structure of 1,3,5- triazine in 1954 , Schwarze did not rest and synthesized numerous new derivatives of this heterocycle in the years up to around 1974. In the meantime, Geigy had developed the triazine herbicide atrazine and launched it on the market. In 1966, Schwarze succeeded in synthesizing another highly active herbicide with a wide range of applications in the important crops of maize and grain. This triazine derivative was obtained from Shell under the name Bladex ® marketed.

Schwarze later synthesized numerous sulfur-containing derivatives of 1,3,5-triazine, which were used in the rubber industry . His creativity contributed significantly to the economic development of Degussa AG (since 2008: Evonik Degussa GmbH) since 1940.

In 1997, Degussa, in the presence of its guest of honor Werner Schwarze, founded the Werner-Schwarze-Scholarship to support young doctoral students doing research in the amino acid field. This prize is awarded annually by the Evonik Foundation .

Publications (selection)

  • Karlheinz Drauz, Hans Günther Koban, Jürgen Martens and Werner Schwarze: Phosphonic and Phosphinic Acid Analogs of Penicillamine , Liebigs Annalen der Chemie 1985 , 448–452, doi : 10.1002 / jlac . 198519850303 .
  • Werner Schwarze, Karlheinz Drauz and Jürgen Martens: Implementation of 3-thiazolines with carboxylic acid chlorides , Chemiker-Zeitung 111 (1987) 149–153.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Werner Schwarze: German patent specification 1670528 of the Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt AG, priority date: July 16, 1966.
  2. ↑ Always an idea better , published by Degussa AG, Frankfurt am Main, 1998, there pages 238–259 Article by Karlheinz Drauz: “Unrest spirit and genial synthetist - Werner Schwarze”, ISBN 3-00-002389-5 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Blacks, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist at Degussa AG
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Marl sleeve
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 2007
Place of death Frankfurt am Main