Ruzicka, Leopold

RUZICKA, LEOPOLD (1887-1976). A chemist who won the Nobel prize in 1939 with Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt. His work involved research in organic synthesis including polymethylenes and higher terpenes. He was the first chemist to synthesize musk, androsterone. and testosterone from cholesterol. His medical degree was awarded at the University of Basel, Switzerland, although he was born in Croatia and educated partially in Germany. 

Ruzicka Leopold, Switzerland, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, (Federal Institute of Technology), Zurich, (in Vuk-ovar, then Austria-Hungary) "For his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes"... 

Leopold Ruzicka work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes... 

Leopold Ruzicka Switzerland, b. Hungary polymethylenes and terpenes... 

Terpenoids are compounds derived from a combination of two or more isoprene units. Isoprene is a five carbon unit, chemically known as 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene. According to the isoprene rule proposed by Leopold Ruzicka, terpenoids arise from head-to-tail joining of isoprene units. Carbon 1 is called the head and carbon 4 is the tail . For example, myrcene is a simple 10-carbon-containing terpenoid formed from the head-to-tail union of two isoprene units as follows. 

The Binding of the Lewis b Blood Group Determinant by the Lectin 4 of Griffonia simplicifolia, R. U. Lemieux, Leopold Ruzicka Centennial Symp., Zurich, Switzerland, 20 March, 1987, Chimia, 41 (1987) 10-12. 

Kalmia latifolia, Leucothoe grayana, L. spp., Rhododendron spp. (Ericaceae) in honey from Rhododendron-feeding bees Tanacetum (Chrysanthemum) cinerariifolium (pyrethrum) (Asteraceae) Leopold Ruzicka (Croatia/Switzerland, Nobel Prize, 1939, Chemistry, polymethylenes terpenes) Tanacetum (Chrysanthemum) cinerariifolium (pyrethrum) (Asteraceae)... 

Androsterone] (sterol) Adolph Butenandt (Germany, Nobel Prize, Animals Leopold Ruzicka (synthesis) (Croatia/ Switzerland, Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1939, terpenes) AND-R agonist... 

Leopold Stephen Ruzicka (1887-1976) was bom in Vukovar, Croatia. Though few in his family had much formal schooling, he nonetheless decided to study chemistry and ultimately received his Ph.D. in 1910 at the University of Karlsruhe with Hermann Staudinger. He followed Staudinger to the Swiss Federal Institute (E.T.H.) in Zurich and later became professor there (1929-1957). He was the first to show that rings of more than eight carbons are possible, and he opened up the entire field of ter-pene chemistry. With Adolf Butanandt of Germany he received the 1939 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 

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