John Ulric Nef (Johann Ulrich Nef; June 14, 1862 – August 13, 1915) was a Swiss-born American chemist and the discoverer of the
Nef reaction
In organic chemistry, the Nef reaction is an organic reaction describing the acid hydrolysis of a salt of a primary or secondary nitroalkane () to an aldehyde () or a ketone () and nitrous oxide (). The reaction has been the subject of sever ...
and
Nef synthesis
In organic chemistry, Nef synthesis is the addition of sodium acetylides to aldehydes and ketones to yield acetylenic carbinols. It is named for John Ulric Nef, who discovered the reaction in 1899.
This process is often erroneously referred to as ...
.
He was a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
and the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
Life
His parents emigrated from Switzerland to the United States, where Nef studied chemistry at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
until 1884. Upon graduation, he joined
Adolf von Baeyer
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (; 31 October 1835 – 20 August 1917) was a German chemist who synthesised indigo and developed a nomenclature for cyclic compounds (that was subsequently extended and adopted as part of the IUPAC org ...
at the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
, where he received his Ph.D. in 1887.
He was a
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 ...
at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
from 1887 till 1889 and at
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...
from 1889 till 1892. In 1892 Nef joined the newly formed
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
as Professor of Chemistry, where he spent the rest of his academic career.
His son
John Ulric Nef (1899–1988) became a Professor of Economic History and published several books.
Work
The discovery of the
Nef reaction
In organic chemistry, the Nef reaction is an organic reaction describing the acid hydrolysis of a salt of a primary or secondary nitroalkane () to an aldehyde () or a ketone () and nitrous oxide (). The reaction has been the subject of sever ...
and the papers about divalent carbon (
carbene
In organic chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is or where the R represents substituents or hydrogen atoms.
The term "carbene" ma ...
s) were his major achievements.
See also
*
Phenylsodium
Phenylsodium C6H5Na is an organosodium compound. Solid phenylsodium was first isolated by Nef in 1903. Although the behavior of phenylsodium and phenyl magnesium bromide are similar, the organosodium compound is very rarely used.
Synthesis
The ...
References
Biographical Note from the University of ChicagoPicture of Nef at MSU
External links
*
Swiss emigrants to the United States
Harvard College alumni
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Purdue University faculty
Clark University faculty
University of Chicago faculty
1862 births
1915 deaths
American chemists
Organic chemists
Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
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