Early life
Auguste Cahours was born inCareer
After graduating, he went up in the ranks of the French Army Corps, which he quickly and suddenly abandoned to concentrate on his interest in scientific research. He became, after his time in the army, the pupil of the renowned chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul and became his "preparer", a post he held for four years at thePersonal life
Auguste Cahours married Maria Robillard (born in 1821). The latter had two children: Georges, the elder, and André, the younger. A series of tragedies between 1867 and 1871 took away his wife, brother and two sons, the younger being killed during the Franco-German war. In 1881, at the age of 68, he remarried with Madeleine Levant. He died ten years later, on 17 March 1891, at the age of 78, in Paris.Discoveries
The discoveries of Auguste Cahours are numerous and affect a variety of fields. He worked with many renowned scientists including Bineau, Hofmann and Gerhardt. With Bineau, Cahours succeeded in determining the densities of vapor under atmospheric pressure. Then, with August Wilhelm von Hofmann, he discovered allylic alcohol. In fact, Cahours' work was oriented in three directions during his career: :I. The discovery and invention of new products (amyl and allyl alcohols, toluene, xylene, aliphatic hydrocarbons, cuminic and anisic acids, anethole, halogenated and nitrated derivatives, piperidine, vitelline, organometallic compounds) :II. The development of methodological tools (chlorination by PCl5, sulfonitration, synthesis of phenol esters, chemical identification using a bypass beam, systematic use of analogies) :III. Important contributions to the development of theories (valence: phosphines, arsines, organometallics, thiols; aromatic series isomers; atomic theory: vapor densities; series and function concepts: alcohols, allylic series, organometallics, between series and between functions; alkaloids: amino acids) In Dumas’ laboratory, he studied potato essence. In fact, from a single impure sample of one liter belonging to Chevreul, he succeeded in defining and characterizing it as an alcohol. He gave it the name of amyl alcohol. At that time, neither the difference nor the methods of distinction between the primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols were well established and there was obviously no spectroscopy. This product, along with spirit-of-wine (ethanol), spirit-of-wood (methanol) and ethyl of Chevreul (cetyl alcohol), became the fourth member of the series of alcohols. Moreover, in collaboration with many scientists, it allowed extraordinary advances in the categorization of compounds more or less known or completely unknown like cumene, the latter having been discovered in collaboration with Gerhardt when they underwent the same reaction as Mistcherlich subjected to benzoic acid, but this time to cuminic acid. Their interest in benzoic compounds led to the discovery of numerous aromatic compounds including cumene, cymene and cinnamene (styrene). Cahours also did a great deal of research on salicylic acid and its derivatives, which he obtained thanks to the "essence of wintergreen", the latter being derived from a plant known as the Gaulthérie recumbent. The technique he used to obtain this acid was repeated many times by other scientists who also wished to obtain it, before being replaced by an industrial process, Kolbe's reaction, established by Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe between 1843 and 1845. This reaction involves a sodium phenolate ion which, after having been treated with under high pressure and with sulfuric acid, forms salicylic acid. It was later, when he was interested in phosphorus perchloride, that Cahours laid down a general precedent which made it possible to obtain the bases of acid chlorides, based on the reaction isolated by Liebig and Wöhler . Auguste Cahours also worked on organometallics and showed that several substances, including tin, naturally sought to adopt a saturated configuration (SnX4).Accomplishments
Cahours was twice honored with the Jecker Prize by the Academy of Sciences: first in 1860 for his work on Radicals (a prize he shared with Wurtz), and then again for his discoveries on steam densities for seven years Later, in 1867. In addition, he was successively honored with the titles of Knight (1846), Officer (1843) and Commander (1880) of the Legion of Honor. In 1870, after the Franco-German War and with the help of Hoffman, he was the first French scientist to be recruited by the German Chemical Society. He was also a member of many other scientific orders, including: *The Philatelic Society *The Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of Rouen *The Academy of Sciences *The Academy of Cherbourg *The Academy of Dijon * The Chemical Society of London *The Berlin Academy (as a correspondent) *The Academy of Sciences of St. PetersburgReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahours, Auguste Andre Thomas 19th-century French chemists 1813 births 1891 deaths Scientists from Paris Academic staff of École Polytechnique Members of the French Academy of Sciences