- For the genealogist and son of Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz, see Stephan Kekulé von Stradonitz
Kekulé von Stradonitz
Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz (September 7, 1829 – July 13, 1896) was a German organic chemist.
He was born in Darmstadt to an old Bohemian noble family. He was professor at Ghent (1858-1865) and at Bonn. He studied various carbon compounds, especially benzene, proposing a carbon ring for its structure. In 1857 Kekulé proposed that carbon was tetravalent.
He wrote that he discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after dreaming of a snake seizing its own tail. This dream came to him after years of studying the nature of carbon-carbon bonds. Kekulé claimed to solve the problem of how carbon atoms could bond to up to four other atoms at the same time. While his claims were well publicized and accepted, by the early 1920s Kekulé's own biographer came to the conclusion that Kekulé's understanding of the tetravalent nature carbon bonding depended on the previous research of Archibald Scott Couper (1831-1892); further, the German Chemist Josef Loschmidt (1821-1895) had earlier posited a cyclic structure for benzene as early as 1862, although he had not actually proved this structure to be correct.
In 1895 Kekule was enobled by Emperor William II, giving him the right to add "von Stradonitz" to his name, referring to an ancient possession of his family in Stradonice, Bohemia. Of the first five Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, his students won three.
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Last updated: 06-02-2005 16:47:41
