Adolf Von Baeyer Biography

Adolf von Baeyer (October 31, 1835 – August 20, 1917) Chemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1905). He was born in Berlin, Germany. He is recognized for the research he carried out on the structure and artificial synthesis of numerous organic compounds. In short, he discovered phenolphthalein and fluorescein. Baeyer is known primarily for the synthesis of indigo.

His father was a military man named Jakob Baeyer, and creator of the European geodetic measurement system. From an early age, Adolf showed great interest in chemistry. His curiosity and intelligence allowed him to synthesize and isolate for the first time a double copper salt with only twelve years of age. Upon finishing his high school studies he entered the University of Berlin to study physics and mathematics. In 1856 he joined the laboratory of Robert Bunsen in Heidelberg. A year later he published the results of several studies on methyl chloride (CH3Cl). In the year of 1858, he was the first research assistant of August Kekulé.

The knowledge of this chemist was very helpful in organic chemistry.

Baeyer began studies on uric acid that led to the synthesis of barbituric acid. Then, he served as a professor at the University of Berlin in 1860. Thanks to his long days in the laboratory he discovered that when a complex molecule was subjected to high temperatures in the presence of zinc dust, it could be fragmented. Two of his disciples: Carl Graebe and Karl Liebermann, unraveled the structure of alizarin, a red dye from the root of the tinctorum used to dye the uniforms of the French army.

After seventeen years of studies and research, he found the synthesis of indigo, an intense blue tincture obtained from the leaves and stems of the Indigofera tinctorum. So, he made a synthesis between 1878 and 1882. They were not used for commercial purposes (although, today this dye is necessary for the textile industry). Thanks to this he received the Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1881.

In 1868 he married Adelheid Bendemann. In 1871 he obtained a place at the University of Strasbourg, which he left two years later to start as Professor at the University of Munich. He enjoyed a modern laboratory. He conducted studies on acetylene and polyacetylene, works with benzene and cyclic terpenes, on the other hand, defined the Theory of Torsion, basically, this allows us to understand why those of five and six carbons are the most stable existing cyclic compounds. His work and scientific career were recognized in 1905 with the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his contribution to organic chemistry through chemical dyes. That same year, he turned seventy birthdays, and several of his articles were published in important scientific journals.