Eugène-Melchior Péligot (24 March 1811 – 15 April 1890), also known as Eugène Péligot, was a
French 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 ...
who isolated the first sample of
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
metal in 1841.
[ ]
Péligot proved that the black powder of
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist. He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and ...
was not a pure metal (it was an
oxide of uranium, known in chemistry as UO
2). He then succeeded in producing pure uranium metal by reducing
uranium tetrachloride
Uranium tetrachloride is an inorganic compound, a salt of uranium and chlorine, with the formula UCl4. It is a hygroscopic olive-green solid. It was used in the electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS) process of uranium enrichment. It is one o ...
(UCl
4) with
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
metal.
[Celestial Bodies](_blank)
Today better methods have been found.
Péligot was a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
of
analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...
at the
Institut National Agronomique
The Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA P-G) was a French university-level institution of grande école-type. It offered master's degree in agricultural- and life sciences. It was created in 1971 by merging the ''Institut national agr ...
. He collaborated with
Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and together they discovered the
methyl radical during
experiment
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
s on
wood spirit (
methanol). The terminology "
methyl alcohol
Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is ...
" was created by both chemists from "wood wine". They also prepared the
gaseous
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), ...
dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether (DME; also known as methoxymethane) is the organic compound with the formula CH3OCH3,
(sometimes ambiguously simplified to C2H6O as it is an isomer of ethanol). The simplest ether, it is a colorless gas that is a useful precursor ...
, and many
ester
In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides a ...
s. In 1838, they successfully transformed
camphor into
''p''-cymene using
phosphorus pentoxide
Phosphorus pentoxide is a chemical compound with molecular formula P4 O10 (with its common name derived from its empirical formula, P2O5). This white crystalline solid is the anhydride of phosphoric acid. It is a powerful desiccant and dehydra ...
.
In 1844 he synthesized
chromium(II) acetate
Chromium(II) acetate hydrate, also known as chromous acetate, is the coordination compound with the formula Cr2(CH3CO2)4(H2O)2. This formula is commonly abbreviated Cr2(OAc)4(H2O)2. This red-coloured compound features a quadruple bond. The prepara ...
, which was much later recognized (by
F. Albert Cotton
Frank Albert Cotton FRS (April 9, 1930 – February 20, 2007) was an American chemist. He was the W.T. Doherty-Welch Foundation Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. He authored over 1600 scientific articles. C ...
in 1964) to be the first chemical compound which contains a
quadruple bond
A quadruple bond is a type of chemical bond between two atoms involving eight electrons. This bond is an extension of the more familiar types double bonds and triple bonds. Stable quadruple bonds are most common among the transition metals in the m ...
.
[Cotton, F. A.; Walton, R. A. "Multiple Bonds Between Metal Atoms" Oxford (Oxford): 1993. .]
See also
*
List of chemists
This is a list of chemists. It should include those who have been important to the development or practice of chemistry. Their research or application has made significant contributions in the area of basic or applied chemistry.
__NOTOC__
A
* Ri ...
References
External links
Photograph of Peligot
1811 births
1890 deaths
19th-century French chemists
Scientists from Paris
Uranium
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
{{France-chemist-stub