Cordus, Valerius

Valerius Cordus (1515-1544), German physician, provides the first written description of how to prepare ether. 

C. Priesner, Spiritus aethereus - formation of ether and theories of etherification from Valerius Cordus to Alexander Williamson , Ambix, 1986, 33, 129-152. 

The Spanish chemist Raymundus Lullius learned of ether in 1275 from the Moors, who had brought the discovery to Spain. Lullius called it sweet vitriol. In 1540, German botanist and apothecary Valerius Cordus described how to synthesize ether. Around the same time, a Swiss alchemist, scientist, and medical visionary named Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (otherwise known by his adopted name Paracelsus) discovered ether s hypnotic effects. Paracelsus, who declared himself the monarch of all the arts, also reintroduced opium to European medicine as laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol. For centuries this was the most effective painkiller available. 

Ether, another solvent, also an anaesthetic, was known in the sixteenth century, and described by Valerius Cordus, a German physician. It was prepared by the action of sulphuric acid on alcohol, and in the early part of the eighteenth century was employed as a mixture with alcohol, under the name of Hoffmann s Anodyne, to allay pain. Its use as an anaesthetic was discovered by Charles Jackson, of Boston, in 1842. The most economical method of manufacture is the continuous process, devised by Boullay. 

Historical The fruits of Strychnos nux-vomica (nux vomica, poison nut) were first described by Valerius Cordus in 1540 the alkaloid was isolated in 1818 by Caventou and Pelletier. The structure of S. was elucidated by Leuchs, Robinson, Woodward, and Prelog Woodward achieved the synthesis (30 reaction steps) in 1954 as the first total synthesis of a structurally complicated natural product. For further syntheses, see Ut . 

Priesner, Claus. 1986. Spiritus Aethereus—Formation of Ether and Theories on Etherification from Valerius Cordus to Alexander Williamson. Ambix 33(2/3) 129-152. 

In the Dispensatorium Pharmacopolarum of Valerius Cordus, published in Nuremberg in 1546, only three essential were listed however, the second of cial edition of the Dispensatorium Valerii Cordi issued in 1592, 61 distilled oils were listed illustrating the rapid development and acceptance of essential oils. In that time, the so-called Florentine ask has already been used for separating the essential oil from the water phase. 

German scientist Valerius Cordus discovers ether. 

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