Alfred Wohl (3 October 1863 – 25 December 1939) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

. Several chemical reactions are named after him, including the Wohl degradation, Wohl-Aue reaction and the Wohl-Ziegler reaction.

Life

Wohl studied chemistry at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

from 1882 until 1886. He received his Ph.D 1886 for work on

Hexamethylenetetramine Hexamethylenetetramine, also known as methenamine, hexamine, or urotropin, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula (CH2)6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like s ...

with

August Wilhelm von Hofmann August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...

. He became an assistant of

Hermann Emil Fischer Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of dra ...

at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

from 1886 until 1891, where he also received his habilitation. He became professor at the University of Berlin in 1901, but he left for the

Technical University of Danzig Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

in 1904. He retired because of antisemitic pressure in 1933, but worked in his lab until 1937. He emigrated to Sweden in 1938, where he died in 1939. His son Kurt Wohl (1896-1962) - who also became a renowned chemical scientist - emigrated to Great Britain in 1939 and some years later to the United States.Kurt Wohl – His Life and Work
www.researchgate.net, January 2003

Work

His work in organic chemistry started with his PhD thesis on

hexamine Hexamethylenetetramine, also known as methenamine, hexamine, or urotropin, is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula (CH2)6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like s ...

in 1886. Under the influence of Fischer, Wohl focused on sugar chemistry. Wohl arbitrarily defined the structure of (+)-glyceraldehyde to have the D-configuration, forming the basis for the D-L system. This was done before chemists had the ability to prove (+)-glyceraldehyde was, in fact, D-glyceraldehyde. Before the invention of

x-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

the exact determination of the configuration at a chiral carbon atom was impossible. With this starting point, all related chiral compounds could be chemically transformed into (−)- or (+)-glyceraldehyde. By employing only chemical transformations with retention of stereochemical configuration, such an unknown chiral compound could be assigned either a D- or an L-configuration. The use of

vanadium pentoxide Vanadium(V) oxide (''vanadia'') is the inorganic compound with the formula V2 O5. Commonly known as vanadium pentoxide, it is a brown/yellow solid, although when freshly precipitated from aqueous solution, its colour is deep orange. Because o ...

for the catalytic oxidation with air of various substances became his most profitable invention. Similar catalysts are still used for the oxidation of naphthalene,

anthraquinone Anthraquinone, also called anthracenedione or dioxoanthracene, is an aromatic organic compound with formula . Isomers include various quinone derivatives. The term anthraquinone however refers to the isomer, 9,10-anthraquinone (IUPAC: 9,10-dioxoan ...

and for the production of sulfuric acid from sulfur dioxide.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wohl 1863 births 1939 deaths 19th-century German chemists People from Grudziądz German emigrants to Sweden Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the Gdańsk University of Technology People from the Province of Prussia 20th-century German chemists