Tassaert, Citizen

Most authorities attribute the discovery of the first metal ammine to Tassaert, a Parisian chemist about whom virtually nothing is known — not even his first name. In his short article12 he is identified only as Citoyen Tassaert — Citizen Tassaert. Some chemists imply or even openly state that Tassaert was the first to prepare hexaamminecobalt(III) chloride, [Co(NH3)6]C13, the parent compound from which all cobalt ammines may be considered to be derived. Yet he merely observed the brownish mahogany color of the solution formed when excess aqueous ammonia is added to a solution of cobalt chloride or cobalt nitrate, and he failed to follow up his accidental discovery. 

In 1799 Citizen Tassaert, a Prussian chemist who had been working for several years at the School of Mines of Paris, discovered chromium in an iron mineral found at the Carrade Villa near Gassin in the department of du Var. He too regarded the mineral as a chromate of iron (89). Since chromium had previously been detected in the red lead of Siberia (crocoite), in the emerald, and in the ruby, the chrome-iron mineral... 

Many historians credit the discovery of the first metal-ammine to Citizen (Citoyen) Tassaert, a Parisian... 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ , ]

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