Wilhelm Sandermann

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Heinrich Wilhelm Sandermann (born September 6, 1909 in Selsen ; † April 2, 1994 ) was a German chemist (wood chemistry). In 1956 he was the first to synthesize TCDD (dioxin) and recognized its extreme toxicity.

resume

After graduating from the Leopoldinum in Detmold , Sandermann studied chemistry and botany from 1930 at the University of Gießen and the University of Leipzig , where he received his doctorate in 1936 under Heinrich Wienhaus . As a post-doctoral student he was Wienhaus's assistant at the Institute for Plant Chemistry and Wood Research in Tharandt and from 1936 to 1938 with the biochemist Olof Arrhenius in Södermanland , the son of Svante Arrhenius . From 1938 to 1947 he worked for the Spangenberg company in Hamburg, where he became chief chemist. In 1941 he completed his habilitation at the TH Dresden . From 1947 to 1975 he headed the wood chemistry department at the Federal Research Institute for Forestry and Wood Management in Reinbek , where he was professor and director of the institute for wood chemistry and cellulose chemistry from 1957. In addition, he was from 1947 private lecturer and from 1954 to 1957 adjunct professor at the University of Hamburg and from 1963 until his retirement in 1975 professor of wood chemistry at the University of Hamburg. He later moved to Donaustauf .

In 1983 he was visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Beijing.

Act

Dioxin and its toxicity were discovered by Sandermann and colleagues at the Institute for Wood Research in 1957 when they were working on pentachlorophenol, at that time the superior department (Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests) forbade any further research because of its toxicity and its possible use as a warfare agent, as well as publication (It was done somewhat hidden in the work on pentachlorophenol without emphasizing the particular toxicity of TCDD). However, there were always accidents at work in chemical plants with trichlorophenol and its derivatives, and TCDD finally became publicly known as the cause when Sandermann made the chemical data available to the Eppendorf University Medical Center for such accident patients. He worked with the doctor Karl-Heinz Schulz in Eppendorf. According to Sandermann, after her publications from 1957, the toxicity of TCDD was known to the experts and Sandermann published in detail about it in 1974. Nonetheless, later on there were still puzzles about who was responsible for various chemical accidents up to the Seveso accident in 1976.

He published a lot about useful and harmful wood constituents and their biogenesis (for example of terpenes ), harmful types of wood and wood preservatives (for example against termites), thermal decomposition of wood. In the 1950s he wrote an essay about uranium enrichment in plants and the history of wood preservation chemistry and later, for example, about prehistoric putties and glues from trees such as birch bark and the invention of paper by the Chinese and other cultures (Tibet, ancient America) and amber fragrances (where he held a patent).

He wrote satires under the pseudonyms Wilhelm Selhus (including a satirical book on the pre-astronautics of Erich von Däniken ) or Guillermo Selasca. He also wrote travel reports and popular science books.

literature

  • Volkmar Vill: Light and Shadow - Further insights into the history of chemistry in Hamburg, in: Hamburg's history with a difference: Development of the natural sciences, medicine and technology 4, Verlag tredition, Hamburg 2016, pp. 613–623
  • Detlef Noack, obituary in: Uni HH: Reports and opinions from the University of Hamburg, Volume 25, 1994, pp. 55–56
  • Rudolf Patt: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Sandermann 80 Years, Wood as Raw and Material, Volume 47, 1989, p. 520
  • Horst Nimz: Wilhelm Sandermann 80 Years, Wood Research, Volume 43, 1989, pp. 423-424
  • Horst Schulz: W. Sandermann 65 Years, Holzforschung, Volume 28, 1974, pp. 228-228

Fonts (selection)

  • Chemical basics of wood preservatives against termites and their application methods, in Hans Schmidt (Ed.), Die Termiten, Akad. Verlagsges. Geest and Portig, Leipzig 1955, pp. 208–244
  • Basics of the chemistry and chemical technology of wood, Academic Publishing Company Geest and Portig, Leipzig 1956
  • The natural woods, in: Ullmanns Enzyklopadie der Technischen Chemie, Volume 8, 1957, pp. 393-417
  • The god bird no longer calls. Experience report from the foggy jungles of the Mayas, Bertelsmann 1957
  • Chemistry of natural resins, in: Hans Paul Kaufmann, Josef Baltes, Artur Seher (eds.), Analysis of Fats and Fat Products 1: General Part, Springer 1958, pp. 328-348, and Analysis of Harze, pp. 1049-1104
  • Chemical wood utilization 1962
  • Terpenoids: structure and distribution, in: Marcel Florkin, Howard S. Mason (Eds.), Comparative Biochemistry. A Comprehensive Treatise, Volume 3, Academic Press 1962, pp. 503-590, and Terpenoids: metabolism, pp. 591-630
  • Wood constituents, their chemistry and biochemistry, Die Naturwissenschaften, Volume 53, 1966, pp. 513-525
  • Wood finds from ancient cultures, Bild der Wissenschaft, 4, 1967, pp. 206–217
  • The first iron fell from the sky. The great inventions of the great cultures, Bertelsmann 1978
  • Dioxin. The history of the discovery of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (TCDD, dioxin, Sevesogift), Naturwiss. Rundschau, Volume 37, 1984, pp. 173-178
  • Intermediate formation of dioxins in the pulp industry, natural science. Rundschau, Volume 40, 1987, pp. 253-258
  • The long way to paper, natural science. Rundschau, Volume 40, 1987, pp. 339-352

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sandermann, Naturwiss. Rundschau, Volume 37, 1984, pp. 173-178, abstract in the web archive
  2. ^ Sandermann, Hans Stockmann, Reinhard Casten, On the Pyrolysis of Pentachlorophenol (Pyrolysis of pentachlorophenol), Chemical Reports, Volume 90, 1957, pp. 690-692
  3. ↑ Sandermann, Polychlorinated aromatic compounds as environmental pollutants (Polychlorinated aromatic compounds as environmental pollutants), Naturwissenschaften, Volume 61, 1974, pp. 207-213
  4. ↑ Sandermann, Reinhard Casten, On the question of uranium enrichment in plants, Zeitschrift für Weltforstwirtschaft, Volume 17, 1954, pp. 95–96
  5. ↑ Selhus, And They Were There Yet: Scientific Evidence for Visits from Space, Bertelsmann, 1975
  6. ↑ For example in the Naturwissenschaftlichen Rundschau, Volume 41, 1988, p. 161: A great breeding success: The Cubico-Orange .
personal data
SURNAME Sandermann, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sandermann, Heinrich Wilhelm; Selasca, Guillermo; Selhus, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Selsen
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1994