Abstract
THE centenary of the birth of Rudolph Fittig, who made important contributions to the development of organic chemistry, falls on December 6. His early scientific work was carried out at Gottingen where he was assistant to Wohler, and became Privatdocent in 1860 and professor in 1866. Whilst at Gottingen, Fittig was the late Sir William Ramsay's tutor (1871). From 1876 until his death, he was professor of organic chemistry at Strassburg. He is best remembered for his synthesis of the higher hydrocarbons, particularly the benzene homologues, by the action of sodium upon alkyl or aryl halides or on mixtures of both. It is not so generally realised that Fittig also studied the action of sodium on aldehydes and other series of organic compounds and carried out extensive researches on unsaturated acids. In the course of this work he prepared a number of sets of isomeric (active and inactive) acids and showed their relationships. He suggested a ‘ketone’ formula for benzoquinone in 1873 and this was afterwards adopted under the title of ‘quino-noid structure’ for this type of compound.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rudolph Fittig (1835–1910). Nature 136, 862 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136862a0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136862a0