Kuhne, Wilhelm

In 1878, the "fragments" identified by Pasteur were named enzymes by the German physiologist Wilhelm Kuhne. In 1897, Eduard Buchner, a German chemist, accidentally discovered that a yeast juice could convert sucrose to ethanol. He was able to show that the sugar was fermented even in the absence of living yeast cells in the mixture, and named the factor responsible for the fermentation of sucrose zymase. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The 40 years of biochemical research that followed yielded the details of the chemical reactions of fermentation. 

A term coined by Friedrich Wilhelm Kuhne in 1878 to designate catalytically active substances that had formerly been called ferments. Derived from the Greek word.s en. In." and zynru , "leaven."... 

Figure 12-29. Steric parameters of tricyclic psychotropic drugs. (Modified from Wilhelm and Kuhn, 1970.)...

Because good anti-depressive and good neuroleptic activity is found in substances with a nucleus of three fused rings, but the two properties never occur in the one compound, an exploration was made of structure—action relations in the two systems (Wilhelm and Kuhn, 1970). The topology of the tricyclic skeleton determines the type of activity, but this is modified by the side-chain. 

Wieland Theodor bora in 1913 in Munich, he studied chemistry in Freiburg Brsg. and Munich where he received his Dr. phil. in 1937. From 1937 until 1946 he was assistant, (Lecturer 1941), with Richard Kuhn at the Kaiser-Wilhelm/Max-Planck-Institute in Heidelberg. In 1946 he became Prof, at the Univ. of Mainz. Between 1951 and 1968 he was Prof, and Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Univ. of Frankfurt. After R. Kuhn s death in 1967, he was appointed Director of the Department of Chemistry, later Natural Products, of the Heidelberg Institute until 1981. He is hon. prof, of the Universities of Frankfurt and Heidelberg. His contributions include electrophoresis on paper of amino acids, peptides and proteins, isoenzymes of lactate dehydrogenase (with G. Pfleiderer), mixed anhydride method of peptide synthesis (p. 79) peptides of Amanita mushroonis (p. 211). 

At around the same time, a small circle of Nazi officials learned about the discovery of Soman, one of the most deadly nerve agents known to man, which stiU required further development. Unbeknown to Schrader and many others working in the chemical warfare field, Richard Kuhn, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, and his team of scientists had been commissioned by the military to screen various organophosphorus compounds for their level of cholinesterase (ChE) inhibition, and had discovered Soman in the process. When inhaled. Soman turned out to be twice as toxic as Sarin, was able to penetrate through the skin, and quickly affected the central nervous system. Because it inhibited cholinesterase very rapidly, the effective use of antidotes such as atropine was considerably reduced. Experiments on dogs and apes at Gross laboratory in Elberfeld quickly established the enormous toxicity of the new substance. 

Ebbinghaus, A., and K.-H. Roth, Vernichtungsforschung Der Nobelpreistrager Richard Kuhn, die Kaiser Wilhelm-Gesellschaft und die Entwicklung von... 

SOMAN. Following the discoveries of tabun and sarin, Germany continued its search for other organophosphorus nerve agents during World War II. This search led to the 1944 discovery of 0-pina-colyl methylphosphonofluoridate (C7HjgN02P), which became known as soman. For years, this discovery was attributed to Richard Kuhn (1900-1967), who was selected for the 1938 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on carotinoids and vitamins but declined it. More recent research instead attributes the discovery to Konrad Henkel, a scientist working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, which was directed by Kuhn. 

Typical tricyclic antidepressants are amitryptyline ( Laroxyl ) 13.76) (a dibenzocjyc/ohexadiene), and imipramine 3,30) (an imidobibenzyl). Consideration of the principles demonstrated by Wilhelm and Kuhn has... 

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