Henry Drysdale Dakin FRS (12 March 188010 February 1952) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 ...

. He was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

as the youngest of 8 children to a family of steel merchants from

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

. As a school boy, he conducted water analysis with the Leeds City Analyst. He studied chemistry at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

with

Julius B. Cohen Julius Berend Cohen FRS (6 May 1859 in Eccles – 14 June 1935 in Coniston) was an English chemist. He studied chemistry with Hans von Pechmann at the University of Munich. One of his students was Henry Drysdale Dakin. Biography Julius ...

, and then he worked with

Albrecht Kossel Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel (; 16 September 1853 – 5 July 1927) was a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his work in determining the ch ...

arginase Arginase (, ''arginine amidinase'', ''canavanase'', ''L-arginase'', ''arginine transamidinase'') is a manganese-containing enzyme. The reaction catalyzed by this enzyme is: : arginine + H2O → ornithine + urea It is the final enzyme of the ure ...

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 university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

. He joined

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in 1905, working in the lab of

Christian Herter Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895December 30, 1966) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who was the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957 and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961. His moderate ...

. During his work on amino acids he obtained his PhD from Leeds. In 1905, he was one of the first scientists to successfully synthesise adrenaline in the laboratory (see: History of catecholamine research). In 1914 he went back to England to offer his service with the war effort. Due to a request for a chemist by

Alexis Carrel Alexis Carrel (; 28 June 1873 – 5 November 1944) was a French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. He invented the first perfusion pump with Char ...

to the Rockefeller Institute, Dakin joined Carrel in 1916 at a temporary hospital in

Compiègne Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''. Administration Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: * Compiègne-1 (with 19 ...

. There they developed the

Carrel–Dakin method Dakin's solution is a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite (0.4% to 0.5%) and other stabilizing ingredients, traditionally used as an antiseptic, e.g. to cleanse wounds in order to prevent infection.Jeffrey M. Levine (2013): "Dakin’s Solution ...

of wound treatments. This consisted of intermittently irrigating the wound with

Dakin's solution Dakin's solution is a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite (0.4% to 0.5%) and other stabilizing ingredients, traditionally used as an antiseptic, e.g. to cleanse wounds in order to prevent infection.Jeffrey M. Levine (2013): "Dakin’s Solution: P ...

, a dilute solution of

sodium hypochlorite Sodium hypochlorite (commonly known in a dilute solution as bleach) is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula NaOCl (or NaClO), comprising a sodium cation () and a hypochlorite anion (or ). It may also be viewed as the sodium salt of ...

(the active ingredient in common

liquid bleach Liquid bleach, often called just bleach, is a common chemical household product that consists of a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite () and other secondary ingredients. It is a chlorine releasing bleaching agent widely used to whiten cloth ...

products) and

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 dissolve ...

. In the process, he analyzed more than 200 candidate substances, and developed quantitative methods to evaluate their effectiveness for disinfection and wound healing. The solution is still widely used for that purpose, as of 2013. The World War I era

Rockefeller War Demonstration Hospital Rockefeller Demonstration Hospital, also known as Rockefeller base hospital and United States Army Auxiliary Hospital No. 1 was a World War One era field hospital designed, located and operated by Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research ...

(United States Army Auxiliary Hospital No. 1) was created, in part, to promote the Carrel–Dakin method:

"The war demonstration hospital of the Rockefeller Institute was planned as a school in which to teach military surgeons the principles of and art of applying the Carrel-Dakin treatment."

After he married the widow of

in 1916, he worked in his private laboratory in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

and had several close collaborations with other scientists. His main working fields were amino acids and enzymes. The extraction of amino acids from hydrolyzed peptides by butanol was invented by him. He also was interested in organic chemistry and synthesis, and devised the

Dakin reaction The Dakin oxidation (or Dakin reaction) is an organic redox reaction in which an '' ortho''- or ''para''-hydroxylated phenyl aldehyde ( 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde or 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde) or ketone reacts with hydrogen peroxide in base to form a ...

and the

Dakin–West reaction The Dakin–West reaction is a chemical reaction that transforms an amino-acid into a keto-amide using an acid anhydride and a base, typically pyridine. It is named for Henry Drysdale Dakin (1880–1952) and Randolph West (1890–1949). In 2016 Sc ...

. He died shortly after the death of his wife in early 1952.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dakin, Henry 1880 births 1952 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society English chemists Organic chemists Rockefeller University faculty