Fritz Ullmann (July 2, 1875 in Fürth – March 17, 1939 in Berlin) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

. Ullmann was born in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

and started studying chemistry in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, but received his PhD of the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

for work with Carl Gräbe in 1895. After some time in Geneva he went to Berlin in 1905. Ullmann taught technical chemistry during 1905-1913 and 1922-1925 at the ''Technischen Hochschule Berlin'' (now ''

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

''), first as part of the ordinary teaching staff, later on as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

. In 1900 he introduced

dimethyl sulfate Dimethyl sulfate (DMS) is a chemical compound with formula (CH3O)2SO2. As the diester of methanol and sulfuric acid, its formula is often written as ( CH3)2 SO4 or Me2SO4, where CH3 or Me is methyl. Me2SO4 is mainly used as a methylating agen ...

as an

alkylating agent Alkylation is a chemical reaction that entails transfer of an alkyl group. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene (or their equivalents). Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting ...

. Between 1914 and 1922, when he was back in Geneva, he published the first edition of the "Enzyklopädie der Technischen Chemie" in 12 volumes () in English the ''

Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'' is a major reference work related to Chemical industry, industrial chemistry by chemist Fritz Ullmann, first published in 1914, and exclusively in German as "Enzyklopädie der Technischen Chemie ...

'', a publication that exists to this day. He was married to Irma Goldberg who was his assistant from 1905 to 1910 at his laboratory. They named after themselves the following reactions: the

Ullmann reaction The Ullmann reaction or Ullmann coupling, named after Fritz Ullmann, couples two aryl or alkyl groups with the help of copper. The reaction was first reported by Ullmann and his student Bielecki in 1901. It has been later shown that palladium and ...

, the Ullmann condensation, the Graebe-Ullmann synthesis, the Goldberg reaction and the illustrious Jordan-Ullmann-Goldberg synthesis.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullmann, Fritz 20th-century German chemists Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin University of Geneva alumni People from Fürth 1875 births 1939 deaths