Carl Ulrich Franz Mannich (8 March 1877 in Breslau – 5 March 1947 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

) 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 th ...

. From 1927 to 1943 he was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

for

pharmaceutical chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developmen ...

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 o ...

. His areas of expertise were keto bases, alcohol bases,

derivative In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. F ...

s of

piperidine Piperidine is an organic compound with the molecular formula (CH2)5NH. This heterocyclic compound, heterocyclic amine consists of a six-membered ring containing five methylene bridges (–CH2–) and one amine bridge (–NH–). It is a colorless ...

papaverine Papaverine (Latin ''papaver'', "poppy") is an opium alkaloid antispasmodic drug, used primarily in the treatment of visceral spasms and vasospasms (especially those involving the intestines, heart, or brain), occasionally in the treatment of erec ...

lactone Lactones are cyclic carboxylic esters, containing a 1-oxacycloalkan-2-one structure (), or analogues having unsaturation or heteroatoms replacing one or more carbon atoms of the ring. Lactones are formed by intramolecular esterification of the co ...

s and also

Digitalis ''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in sha ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

s. The

Mannich reaction In organic chemistry, the Mannich reaction is a three-component organic reaction that involves the amino alkylation of an acidic proton next to a carbonyl () functional group by formaldehyde () and a primary or secondary amine () or ammonia (). ...

was named after his discovery of the mechanism in 1912.

Biography

Life

Mannich attended high school in Weimar and later on in Berlin where he left before graduating, taking an internship at a pharmacy instead. From 1898, he studied in Marburg and Berlin and received his doctorate in 1903 in Basel. In 1905, he completed the matriculation examination for the University of Berlin and passed the state examination for food chemistry. He completed his studies at the

in 1910 after which he was appointed as an extraordinary professor. Mannich became an extraordinary professor for

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developmen ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

from 1911 to 1917, and went to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1920. Between 1927 and 1943 Mannich was Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Berlin. In the years between 1932 and 1934 he was President of the “Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft (DPhG)”. In the winter semester 1946/1947, he took over the Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at TH Karlsruhe.

Scientific life

Mannich is well known for his discovery of a special form of amino alkylation which was named after him: the

. In 1912 Mannich was able to describe the first synthetical morphine glucoside. He also completed a series of works in 1917 about the opium alkaloids and gave a method for the production of pure opium extracts. Mannich also developed a method for the determination of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a analgesic, pain medication, and is also commonly used recreational drug, recreationally, or to make ...

content in opium, which allowed for effective dosing without having to use complex physiological individual tests. With his synthesis, he contributed to the determination of the structure of morphine. Mannich advanced the field of applied pharmacy with his development of various testing and detection methods. These include polarimetry of starch in order to detect

boric acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen borate or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white powder, that dissolves ...

in food or the amount of

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

in alcoholic beverages.

Scientific works

* ''Über die Bildung von Benzolderivaten aus Dimethylamino-butanon und Malon-ester bzw. Acetessigester.'' Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft (1938, A and B Series), vol. 71 (10), p. 2090-2092. * ''Eine Synthese des Arecaidinaldehyds und des Arecolins'' Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft (1942, A and B Series), vol. 75 (12) p. 1480-1483. * ''Über g‐Strophanthin (Ouabain) und g‐Strophanthidin'' Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft (1942, A and B Series), vol. 75 (12), p. 737-750. * ''Synthese und Umsetzungen von 1.3‐Ketobasen mit sekundärem Stickstoff'' Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft (1942, A and B Series), vol. 75 (1), p. 49-64.

References

* Translated from German Wiki original 1877 births 1947 deaths Scientists from Wrocław People from the Province of Silesia Humboldt University of Berlin faculty 20th-century German chemists {{Germany-chemist-stub