Kolbe, Adolph Wilhelm

Kolbe, Adolph Wilhelm Hermann, 168, 196 Kossel, Walther, 74 Kroto, Harold, 96... 

Kolbe, Adolph Wilhelm Hermann (1818-84) German chemist who was the first to synthesize acetic acid from inorganic material. He discovered the Kolbe reaction in 1859, which allowed large-scale industrial synthesis of salicylic acid. This was important for the production of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). 

As the reaction is a coupling reaction, only alkanes with an even number of carbon atoms in the chain can be prepared in this way. The process is named for the German chemist Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (1818-84). 

In 1845, for instance, Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (1818-84), a pupil of Wohler s, succeeded in synthesizing acetic acid, an indubitably organic substance. Furthermore, he synthesized it by a method which showed that a clear line of chemical change could be drawn from the constituent elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, to the final product, acetic acid. This synthesis from the elements or total synthesis is all that can be asked of the chemist. If Wohler s synthesis of urea did not settle the matter of the vital force, Kolbe s synthesis of acetic acid did. 

Professor Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (1818-1884), University of Leipzig, Germany. Professor Rudolf Schmitt (1830-1898), University of Dresden, Germany. 

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