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Eduard Zintl (21 January 1898 – 17 January 1941) was a German chemist. He gained prominence for research on intermetallic compounds.


Family background

After his family moved from Weiden and
Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
to
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
and after he had finished school he was drafted for military service during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. At the age of 21 he started studying at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
with Otto Hönigschmid. He was an excellent student, and later became an assistant for Otto Hönigschmid, head of the German atomic weight laboratory.


Career

He earned his PhD in 1923, at the age of 25, with a thesis on the molar mass of bromine. He stayed with Otto Hönigschmid's group, where he was involved in the supervision of PhD students, for example Josef Goubeau and Günther Rienäcker. From 1928 till 1933 he was professor of inorganic chemistry at the
University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...
. During this period he studied the structure of
complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
anions An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...
formed by metals in a solution of
sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...
in
ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
. a(NH3)xsup>+4 b9sup>4− is one of the examples he discovered. Working in an atomic weight laboratory as a student assistant had provided him a lot of experience with chemical elements and how they react with each other. He noted that the atomic volume contraction between these compounds were formed and it could indicate cation formation.


Work at Darmstadt

In 1933 he moved to a position at the
Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmsta ...
, where a new building for inorganic and physical chemistry was planned and built. The research on complex anions led him to the discovery of the Zintl phases. The structure of Zintl phases were ionic, and the structure of the anion (aka Zintl ion) could result an electronic state. His study focused on intermetallic compounds and how the electron could be transferred from a more electropositive metal.Fässler, Thomas F. (2011). Zintl Phases: Principles and Recent Developments In the Zintl phase, the structure of the Zintl ion (polyanion) should be similar to an isoelectronic element. For example, in Na2Tl, the polyanion is tetrahedral (Tl4)8−, similar to the phosphorus molecule P4.


Further reading

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zintl, Eduard 1898 births 1941 deaths 20th-century German chemists Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt People from Weiden in der Oberpfalz German military personnel of World War I