Jorgensen, Sophus Mads

Whereas Kekule disposed of complex compounds by banishing them to the limbo of molecular compounds , other chemists developed highly elaborate theories to explain their constitution and properties. The most successful and widely accepted of such pre-Werner theories was the chain theory,47 advanced by Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand (1826-1897)4 and developed by Sophus Mads Jorgensen (1837—1914).46 49 50 Although Werner s ideas eventually triumphed, this did not invalidate Jorgensen s observations. On the contrary, his experiments have proven completely reliable and provided the experimental foundation not only for the Blomstrand—Jorgensen chain theory but also for Werner s coordination theory. 

Werner referred to the oxidation state of the metal ion as its primary valence and to what we now call the coordination number as its secondary valence . The compounds CoCl3-6NH3, CoClj-SNHj and C0CI34NH3 were thus reformulated as [Co(NH3)g]Cl3, [Co(NH3)5Cl]Cl2 and [Co(NH3)4Cl2]Cl. This picture contrasted greatly with earlier ideas such as the chain theory of Danish chemist Sophus Mads Jorgensen. 

Kauffman, George B. (1959). Sophus Mads Jorgensen (1837-1914) A Chapter in Coordination Ch.emisX.ry Gistory. Journal of Chemical Education 36(10) 521-527. 

In 1971, C. K. Jorgensen (not to be confused with the elder Sophus Mads Jorgensen) established a table of empirical f and g factors that could be used to estimate the value of A for an unknown coordination compound. The f factors listed in Table I6.I0 apply to the ligand (with HjO assigned a value of 1.00), while the g factors refer to the metal ion. For an octahedral complex containing only one type of ligand, the product fg is approximately equal to the CF splitting parameter... 

Figure 4.3 Middle pages of banquet menu from the silver jubilee of the Danish Chemical Society in 1904, displaying several of the chemical institutions in Denmark and some of the most prominent chemists at the time. The topmost portrait is that of Sophus Mads Jorgensen, the first president of the society.

The six presidents were Sophus Mads Jorgensen (1879 1902 and again 1903 1906), as mentioned, Odin Christensen (1902 1903), Soren Peter Lauritz Sorensen (1906-1907), the polytechnic graduate Juhus Petersen (1907 1910), Einar Biilmann (1910-1913), and Christian Winther (1913 1916). 

Figure 3. Sophus Mads Jorgensen (1837-1914) (Reproduced with permission from reference 25, p 12. Copyright 1977, American Chemical Society.)...

Blomstrand s chain theory was adopted, modified and developed by his close fiiend in Copenhagen, Sophus-Mads Jorgensen (1837-1914) (7), who brilliantly defended it until Werner in 1907 - ten years after Blomstrand s death - synthesized c/5-tetraamminedichlorocobalt(ni) chloride (cis-[CoC 20 tl2) C ) (8). Then, with the words "Nu er striden afgjort" (Now the battle is over), Jorgensen graciously conceded defeat (9). 

Normally speaking, when a scientist is reading a paper of a colleague s, he pays more attention to the content than to die form, but if e content clashes with his ideas or threatens him with a loss of prestige, die rhetorical form becomes important. This was the case with Sophus Mads Jorgensen, whose works provided the experimental foundation for Werner s theoretic construction (2,5). 

Werner s formulations of these thioanions are interesting he mentioned (19) the salt, made (20) in 1879 by Sophus Mads Jorgensen, [CrCl(NH3)5](S5), in which the doubly charged pentasulfide ion is simply a counter-ion. However, Werner accepted Drechsel s then plausible suggestion (21) that the pentasulfide ion (actually linear) is structurally related to sulfate and thiosulfete ... 

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