Wilhelm Clemens Lossen (8 May 1838 in

Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

– 29 October 1906 in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

) was a German chemist. He was the brother of

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

Karl August Lossen. From 1857 he studied chemistry at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

, then continued his education at

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 ...

as a pupil of

Friedrich Wöhler Friedrich Wöhler () FRS(For) HonFRSE (31 July 180023 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form. He was the firs ...

. After graduation, he worked as an assistant to Karl Weltzien at the polytechnic in Karlsruhe and as an assistant under

Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz (4 November 1817 – 1 December 1880) was a German structural chemist from Berlin. He initially trained and worked as a pharmacist, from 1841 he studied sciences at the University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität z ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

. In 1870 he became an associate professor at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, then in 1877 accepted a position as professor of chemistry at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

. He is largely known for his work with

hydroxylamine Hydroxylamine is an inorganic compound with the formula . The material is a white crystalline, hygroscopic compound.Greenwood and Earnshaw. ''Chemistry of the Elements.'' 2nd Edition. Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. pp. 431–43 ...

s; their preparations, properties and derivatives. The eponymous

Lossen rearrangement The Lossen rearrangement is the conversion of a hydroxamate ester to an isocyanate. Typically O-acyl, sulfonyl, or phosphoryl O-derivative are employed. The isocyanate can be used further to generate ureas in the presence of amines or generate ...

, refers to the decomposition of

hydroxamic acid A hydroxamic acid is a class of organic compounds bearing the functional group RC(O)N(OH)R', with R and R' as organic residues and CO as a carbonyl group. They are amides (RC(O)NHR') wherein the NH center has an OH substitution. They are often us ...

s or their derivatives to yield

isocyanate In organic chemistry, isocyanate is the functional group with the formula . Organic compounds that contain an isocyanate group are referred to as isocyanates. An organic compound with two isocyanate groups is known as a diisocyanate. Diisocyan ...

s. While a student at Göttingen, he conducted research of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

with Albert Niemann. After the untimely death of Niemann in 1861, he continued research of the drug and was able to determine its proper chemical formula. The two scientists also performed studies on the effect of cocaine on

mucous membrane A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It is ...

Selected works

* ''Über das Cocain'', 1862 (with Friedrich Wöhler), dissertation. * ''Ausbildung und Examina der Chemiker'', 1897. * ''Der Anteil der Katholiken am akademischen Lehramte in Preussen. Nach statistischen Untersuchungen'', 1901. * ''Offener Brief an Albert Ladenburg und offene Anfrage an den Vorstand der Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte'', 1903.OCLC WorldCat
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lossen, Wilhelm 1838 births 1906 deaths Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Academic staff of Heidelberg University University of Giessen alumni University of Göttingen alumni People from Bad Kreuznach 19th-century German chemists