Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe

Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
Born	September 27 1818(1818--) Elliehausen near Hanover, Germany
Died	November 27 1884 (aged 66) Leipzig, Germany
Residence	Germany, England
Nationality	German
Field	Chemist
Institutions	University of Marburg University of Leipzig
Alma mater	University of Marburg
Academic advisor	Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, Friedrich Wöhler
Notable students	Peter Griess, Alexander Mikhailovich Zaitsev, Theodor Curtius, Ernst Otto Beckmann, Carl Gräbe, Oscar Loew, Constantin Fahlberg, Nikolaj Menšutkin, Vladimir Markovnikov, Edward Frankland
Known for	Kolbe electrolysis

Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (September 27, 1818 – November 25, 1884) was a chemist.

Kolbe was born in Elliehausen near Hanover, Germany.

He became an assistant to Robert Wilhelm Bunsen at the University of Marburg in 1842, after studying chemistry with Friedrich Wöhler. Subsequently he assisted Lyon Playfair at the University of London and from 1847 to 1851 was engaged in editing the Handwörterbuch der reinen und angewandten Chemie (Dictionary of Pure and Applied Chemistry) written by Justus von Liebig and Wöhler. Kolbe then succeeded Bunsen at Marburg, and in 1865 he went to the University of Leipzig.

At that time, it was believed that organic and inorganic compounds are independent from each other, and that organic compounds could be created only by living organisms. Kolbe believed that organic compounds could be derived from inorganic ones, directly or indirectly, by substitution processes. He validated his theory by converting carbon disulfide, in several steps, to acetic acid (1843-45). Introducing a modified idea of structural radicals, he contributed to the establishment of structural theory. He also predicted the existence of secondary and tertiary alcohols.

He worked on the electrolysis of the salts of fatty and other acids (Kolbe electrolysis) and prepared salicylic acid, a building block of aspirin in a process called Kolbe synthesis or Kolbe-Schmitt reaction.

With Edward Frankland he found that nitriles can be hydrolyzed to the corresponding acids. As editor of the Journal für praktische Chemie (Journal of practical chemistry, 1869), he was sometimes severely critical of the work of others.

He died in Leipzig, Germany.

References

Alan J. Rocke (1993). "Case Studies: Laboratory Sciences: Group Research in German Chemistry: Kolbe's Marburg and Leipzig Institutes". Osiris, 2nd Series 8: 52-79.. 

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