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FITTIG, RUDOLF (1835– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 440 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FITTIG, See also:RUDOLF (1835– ) , See also:German chemist, was See also:born at See also:Hamburg on the 6th of See also:December 1835. He studied See also:chemistry at See also:Gottingen, graduating as Ph.D. with a dissertation on See also:acetone in 1858. He subsequently held several appointments at Gottingen, being privat docent (186o), and extraordinary See also:professor (1870). In 187o he obtained the See also:chair at See also:Tubingen, and in 1876 that at See also:Strassburg, where the laboratories were erected from his designs. Fittig's researches are entirely in organic chemistry, and See also:cover an exceptionally wide See also:field. The See also:aldehydes and See also:ketones provided material for his earlier See also:work. He observed that aldehydes and ketones may suffer reduction in neutral, alkaline, and sometimes See also:acid See also:solution to secondary and See also:tertiary See also:glycols, substances which he named pinacones; and also that certain pinacones when distilled with dilute sulphuric acid gave compounds, which he named pinacolines. The unsaturated acids, also received much See also:attention, and he discovered the See also:internal anhydrides of oxyacids, termed See also:lactones. In 1863 he introduced the reaction known by his name. In 1855 Adolph See also:Wurtz had shown that when See also:sodium acted upon alkyl iodides, the alkyl residues combined to See also:form more complex See also:hydrocarbons; Fittig See also:developed this method by showing that a mixture of an aromatic and alkyl haloid, under similar treatment, yielded homologues of See also:benzene. His investigations on See also:Perkin's reaction led him to an explanation of its mechanism which appeared to be more in accordance with the facts. The question, however, is one of much difficulty, and the exact course of the reaction appears to await solution.

These researches incidentally solved the constitution of See also:

coumarin, the odoriferous principle of woodruff. Fittig and See also:Erdmann's observation that phenyl isocrotonic acid readily yielded a-naphthol by loss of See also:water was of much importance, since it afforded valuable See also:evidence as to the constitution of See also:naphthalene. They also investigated certain hydrocarbons occurring in the high boiling point fraction of the See also:coal See also:tar distillate and solved the constitution of phenanthrene. We also owe much of our knowledge of the See also:alkaloid See also:piperine to Fittig, who in collaboration with Ira Remsen established its constitution in 1871. Fittig has published two widely used See also:text-books; be edited several See also:editions of See also:Wohler's Grundriss der organischen Chemie (11th ed., 1887)and wrote an Unorganische Chemie (1st ed., 1872; 3rd, 1882). His researches have been recognized by many scientific See also:societies and institutions, the Royal Society awarding him the See also:Davy See also:medal in 1906.

End of Article: FITTIG, RUDOLF (1835– )

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