Eugen Baumann (12 December 1846 – 3 November 1896) 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 ...
. He was one of the first people to create
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and, together with
Carl Schotten, he discovered the
Schotten-Baumann reaction.
Life
Baumann was born in Cannstatt, which is now part of
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
. After he attended a gymnasium in Stuttgart, he was educated in the pharmacy of his father. During his time in Stuttgart, he attended the lectures of
Hermann von Fehling
Hermann von Fehling (9 June 1812 – 1 July 1885) was a German chemist, famous as the developer of Fehling's solution used for estimation of sugar.
Biography
Hermann von Fehling was born in Lübeck. With the intention of taking up pharmacy he ...
at the
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wi ...
.
To broaden his education, he went to
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
and
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
to work in pharmacies there. Later, he studied pharmacy at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...
. He passed his first exam in 1870 and received his PhD in 1872 for work with
Felix Hoppe-Seyler
Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Biography
Hoppe-Seyler was b ...
. He followed Hoppe-Seyler to the University of Straßburg where did his
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...
in 1876. The same year,
Emil Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond offered him a position as the Head of the Chemistry Department of the Institute of Physiology in Berlin. In 1882, Baumann became professor of medicine at that institute, and subsequently obtained professor position at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...
.
In 1895, he took over the management of Hoppe-Seyler's ''
Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie'' with Albrecht Kossel.
From 1883 till his death, Baumann was married to Theresa Kopp, the daughter of chemist
Hermann Kopp
Hermann Kopp (born 21 August 1954, in Stuttgart) is a German composer and musician, presently living in Barcelona, Spain.
Biography
In the early eighties, Kopp released two vinyl records with a sound that can be vaguely classified as elec ...
, and they had five children. He died at the age of 49 due to a heart problem.
Work
The organosulfur compounds of urine were his starting point into the
physiological chemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology a ...
.
[Winfried R. Pötsch, Annelore Fischer and Wolfgang Müller with contributions of Heinz Cassenbaum: ''Lexikon bedeutender Chemiker'', VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1988, p. 31, .] He identified the source for
aromatic
In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...
compounds in urine being the aromatic
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...
s, such as
tyrosine
-Tyrosine or tyrosine (symbol Tyr or Y) or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine is one of the 20 standard amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is from the G ...
. He influenced the organosulfur chemistry by the synthesis of
thioacetal
In organosulfur chemistry, thioacetals are the sulfur (''thio-'') analogues of acetals (). There are two classes: the less-common monothioacetals, with the formula , and the dithioacetals, with the formula (symmetric dithioacetals) or (asym ...
s and
thioketal
In organosulfur chemistry, a thioketal is the sulfur analogue of a ketal (), with one of the oxygen replaced by sulfur (as implied by the ''thio-'' prefix), giving the structure . A dithioketal has ''both'' oxygens replaced by sulfur ().
Thio ...
s. These substances were subsequently used by other scientists, for example for
anesthesia
Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...
. Together with his coworkers, he was able to prove that
thyroxine
File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4
rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone
rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone
rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus
rect 66 216 386 25 ...
was the active ingredient in the
thyroid
The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The ...
gland.
Schotten-Baumann reaction
During his work at the physiological institute, Baumann, together with
Carl Schotten, discovered a method to synthesize
amide
In organic chemistry, an amide, also known as an organic amide or a carboxamide, is a compound with the general formula , where R, R', and R″ represent organic groups or hydrogen atoms. The amide group is called a peptide bond when it i ...
s from
amine
In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent ...
s and
acid chloride
In organic chemistry, an acyl chloride (or acid chloride) is an organic compound with the functional group . Their formula is usually written , where R is a side chain. They are reactive derivatives of carboxylic acids (). A specific example o ...
s; this method is still known as the
Schotten-Baumann reaction.
[*]
See also
*
Polyvinyl chloride
*
Sulfonmethane
Sulfonmethane (Sulfonomethane, Sulfonal, Acetone diethyl sulfone) is a chemical compound first synthesized by Eugen Baumann in 1888 and introduced as a hypnotic drug by Alfred Kast later on, but now superseded by newer and safer sedatives. Its ap ...
*
Tetronal
Tetronal is a sedative-hypnotic and anesthetic drug with GABAergic actions. It is not as effective as trional.
History
Tetronal was introduced by Eugen Baumann and Alfred Kast in 1888.
See also
* Sulfonal
Sulfonmethane (Sulfonomethane, Sulf ...
*
Trional
Trional (Methylsulfonal) is a sedative-hypnotic and anesthetic drug with GABAergic actions. It has similar effects to sulfonal, except it is faster acting.
History
Trional was prepared and introduced by Eugen Baumann and Alfred Kast in 1888.
A ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumann, Eugen
1846 births
1896 deaths
19th-century German chemists
19th-century German inventors
University of Tübingen alumni