CHARLES F'RIEDEL (1832-1899) ANTOINE WILLEMART Institut d e Chimie, Paris, France (Translated by Ralph E. Oesper, University of Cincinnati)
LIFE
the first studies on the ketones, lactic acid, the organic compounds of silicon, as well as the investigations on zircon crystals, the pyroelectricity of certain minerals, the dimorphism of zinc sulfide, adamine, etc. In 1861 a young mining engineer from Boston enrolled a t Wurtz's laboratory. Only 22, he had previously studied a t Freiberg in Saxony and a t Heidelberg. Charles Friedel and James Mason Crafts soon found that they had many tastes and ideas in common and it was almost inevitable that they should decide to collaborate on a piece of research. The first of their joint studies on the organic compounds of silicon was carried out during this period (186.31865). It was not until 1869 that Friedel was ready to stand for the doctorate. He defended two theses: one chemical, "Recherches sur les acetones et les aldehydes," one mineralogical, "Sur la pyroelectricite dans les cristanx conducteurs de I'electricit6." He already enjoyed quite a scientific reputation since he had previously published about 50 papers on various topics. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 seriously upset his plans and brought him much personal grief. He sent his wife and children to Switzerland for safety and placed his chemical competency a t the disposal of the national defense. Only after the siege und surrmdrr of . of the death of his wife. who left him P:m d ~ dh ~ Iwrn with five young children: four girlspne boy. In 1873 Friedel married again. His second wife, Louise Combes, was the daughter of the director of the Ecole des Mines. They had one child, a son. The terms of the treaty, which amputated his beloved Almce fromFrance,grieved him sorely and aroused in him a laudable patriotic fervor. Henceforth, all his efforts and all his actions were governed by an intense desire to restore France to her rightful position. In 1871Friedel was put in charge of mineralogy a t the Ecole Normale Superieure, and in 1876 he became professor of mineralogy a t the Sorbonne. He held this chair until 1884, when he succeeded Wurtz (d. 1884) as professor.of organic chemistry and director of the research laboratory a t the Sorbonne. Friedel soon began to worry seriously about the phenomenal progress of the German chemical industry. Was i t threatening to make an empty phrase of Wurtz's famous declaration "Chemistry is a French science?" In Friedel's opinion, the lack of qualified chemists and competent technical men was one of the main reasons for the inferiority of the French chemical industry.
Charles Friedel was born a t Strasbourg on March 12, 1832. His mother was the daughter of the well-known zoologist, Georges Duvernoy, then professor a t the Museum dlHistoire Naturelle in Paris. Friedel's father, n banker, had an active, well-trained mind, and he u-as vividly interested in the rapid growth of science a t the heginning of the 19th century. He followed assiduously t,he courses of popular lectures on chemistry that had heen organized by the city authorities, and in fact he received a prize in 1826. This interest on the part of the father may have been, along with other reasons, the basis of the strong attraction that experimental sciences exercised on Charles Friedel. At school, the boy showed that he had a keen mind; he was a serious student with good general aptitudes. He was allowed to fit up a mom in the honse on the Rue Salzmann as a chemistry lahoratory, and he kept his collection of minerals and rocks there. After.completing the course at the Protestant Gymnasium, he enrolled in the School of Science a t the University of Strasbourg. Pasteur was then a member of the faculty, and there is little doubt that the lectures of this great teacher determined Friedel to pursue chemistry and mineralogy. After a year in his father's counting house demonstrated that banking had no attractions for him, he went to Paris to continue his studies. The young student, only 20, lived with his grandfather Duvernoy in the apartment formerly occupied by Buffon a t the Natural History Museum. In 1852 he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics a t the Sorbonne, and in 1854 his licentiate in this same field. The famous chemist Wurtz was also a native (b. 1817) of Strasbourg, and it was but natural that Friedel should enter (1854) the well-known lahoratory a t the Ecole de Medicine. At almost the same time, Dufrenoy, professor of mineralogy and director of the Ecole des Mines, offered him a post as preparator. I n 1855he received his licentiate in physics and was appointed curator of the collections a t the Ecole des Mines. In 1856 he married Emilie Koechlin, the daughter of a manufacturer near Mulhouse. For many years the activity of Charles Friedel was divided between mineralogy a t the Ecole des Mmes and chemistry a t the laboratory directed by Wurtz. He quickly became the trusted collaborator of his chief and in time his int.imate friend. During this period came 3
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will hegin the celebration of this first dnv "~ of mv " 21st. year, this anniversary of my birthday, the first I have ever spent far from home, by writing to yon. I arose this morning with a feeling of profound thanks to the good Lord who has heaped so many blessings on me, who has also given me such good parents, who has matched over me to this day, and has put me in a position where so many others would like to find themselves. My gratitude to you, good father, is not Accordingly, from 1892 he strongly advocated the less deep and heartfelt, and my sincerest wish is that establishment of a school for the training of technical you ill not have reason to regret the generous sacrichemists. These efforts led to the founding of the In- ficesyou have made to my inclinations." His father did stitut de Chimie. Built originally (1896) a t the corner not regret having allowed his son to followhis heart's deof the Avenue de llObservatoire and the Rue Michelet, sire. In fact, some time before his death the elder F r i e i t was moved in 1919 to the Rue Pierre Curie. Friedel del declared: "Not having been able to devote myself did not see the ripened fruit of his endeavor; he died to science, I wished that my son a t lea,&could beoomea (April 20, 1899) barely three years after the opening of scientist." this school. However, the seed had been sown, and the A second characteristic of Charles Friedel was an Institut de Chimie de Paris, which celebrated its fiftieth intellectual drive that enabled him snccessfully to puranniversary in 1946, has produced, during half a cen- sue concurrently sciences like chemistry and minertury, competent chemical engineers for all branches of alogy. He was well aware of the difficulty entailed in the French chemical industry. This achievement must this dual field of endeavor, and he accordingly hesitated certainly be placed high among Charles Friedel's many to accept the post as assistant a t the Ecole des Mines outstanding successes. while he was also working in the Wurtz laboratory. He Many distinctions and honors came to Friedel. I n wrote to his father: "M. Dufrenoy has offeredto let me 1869, on the day after the presentation of his doctorate work with him as preparator. I have been obliged to theses, he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, respond to him that being already occupied in a labor* and was promoted to Officier in 1888. He was elected tory and preparing for my licentiate, I cannot give him to succeed V. Regnault in the chemistry section of the any considerable part of my time, but that nevertheless Academie des Sciences in 1878. The Royal Society of London awarded its Davy Medal to him in 1880, and Oxford University conferred Doctor juris civili,' honoris causa on h i in 1894. Numerous foreign scientific societies were proud to include him as an honorary member. In 1857 he joined with others in the founding of the Societ6 Chimique de France, and he served four terms as its president (1870, 1871,1880,1888). He was likewise one of the founders and presidents of the Societ6 Mineralogique de France. He even was named president of the Societ6 de Physique de France. Because of his great reputation he was a logical choice to direct and preside over the deliberations of the International Congress which met a t Geneva in 1892 to reform the nomenclature of the fatty acid series. THE MAN
One of Friedel's dominant qualities was his deep affection for his parents. It surely was not easy for him to decide to study science in place of continuing his father's business. To him he wrote on March 12, 1853: "Since I cannot embrace you and take you in my arms, I
First Exparim.nt o n th. Use of Aluminum C M d a in th.Pna.no. Amy1 Chloride
of
The re~orternates the weight of hydrogen chloride released (8.5 g.). The oslculstion gives the theoretiaal weight (5.1 g.) which should be libented.
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I will manage matters in such fashion that I can find some moments for him." Then in a later letter: "I have talked with M. Dufrenoy; he wishes t o confide to me a crystallographic study in particular. This would be very much to my advantage, but I am not sure whether I can find the time for this multitude of jobs. May the Lord provide help by augmenting my activity and by blessing my efforts." Hanriot depicted him in the following terms: "Friedel had strong convictions and took an active part in the propagation of religious ideas. From 1848 he belonged to the Reformed Church. He was a member of the Society of the Friends of the Poor, of the Young Men's Christian Union, whose president he was for many years, and with which he occupied himself to the close of his life; he devoted some hours of his Sundays to visiting the poor. Endowed with an exceptionally finemind, he found time for everything. Until the end of his life he read Latin easily and even Greek; he spoke English and German well. He found recreation from all these studies in sketching, loving to preserve by his pencil the places he passed through or the scenes he saw, and so filled albums which his family has preserved.
Rapetition of the First Trial with aLsrgsr Weight (11 G . ) of Aluminum Chloride. The first line is in the handwriting of J. M. C~afto.
Bodily exercises were also a part of his education. The sight of him, tall and agile, even a t an advanced age, showed that he must have used his muscles as well as his brain. At evening, when the work of the laboratory was finished for the day, he went to the Pascaud gymnasium, where he met with a group of scientists and men of letters who felt as he did that a vigorous body is the best .assistant for an overworked mind. Wurtz, Pisani, Lautb, Javol, Meline, Dr. Picard, and others joined him in these gymnastics which were interspersed with scientific or political discussions, and they so thoroughly enjoyed these meetings that, despite their many duties, it was rare for one of these notables not to be present. Friedel attended until his death; furthermore, he liked t o show off his suppleness and vigor to the young men in his laboratory by helping them with slightly difficult tasks which appeared to be beyond their strength."
Action of Aluminvm Chloride on Benzene in a Se.1.d
Tub.
Friedel was a beloved and esteemed teacher, who had the ability to infuse others with his faith in and enthusiasm for scientific research. A joyful highlight each year was the outing in the country which he arranged for his current and former students. Among the many who studied under him were Machuca, Crafts, Ladenburg, Silva, Gnerin, Sarasin, Ador, Bolsohm, Vincent, J. Curie, Berthelot, Chabrie, Gorgeu, Cumenge, George Friedel (his son) and Combes (his nephew). His famous collaboration with Crafts was divided into two periods. In the first (1861-1865) they published together several papers on the organic compounds of silicon. Later (1874-1891) when Crafts returned to Paris for a second stay, a large number of papers on the famous "Friedel-Crafts reaction" linked their names for posterity. They were also united by a profound friendship, and in the Friedel Memorial Lecture, composed for the London Chemical Society in 1900 Crafts said: "During thirty-eight years in which a close friendship made him a witness of conduct and actions, the writer cannot recall a single instance in which he would have wished his friend to have thought or acted otherwise than he did." CHEMICAL RESEARCHES
Friedel's chemical researches were extremely varied and were carried out in widely different fields. It is necessary to remember that in the middle of the 19th century, when he began this work, there was hardly any
Trial of Reaction of Chlorob-nrene on Benzene in the Pnsence of Aluminum
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among the alcohols, as Kasse had suggested, and that " acetones" and aldehydes have many reactions in common. In order to investigate the whole class of acetones, Friedel prepared a large number of them by distilling mixtures of the calcium salts of fatty acids. He thus prepared acetophenone, which was the earliest example of a "mixed" ketone, belonging to both the aliphatic and aromatic series. By means of sodium amalgam he hydrogenated ordinary acetone, and so converted it into isopropyl alcohol. Friedel a t once declared that the latter should be considered as a representative of a new class of alcohols, namely, the secondary alcohols. Their existence had been predicted shortly before by Kolhe on purely theoretical grounds. The hydrogenation of acetone by means of sodium amalgam produces an First Trialof the Action of Aluminvm Chloride one.Mktvreof Benzene ~d Amy1 Chloride. F.i.d.1-Crafts Reaction
notion of functional groups; the graphic representations were far less detailed than those of today, and they did not express the molecular constitution of compounds. The new theories of Laurent and Gerhardt were opposed for a long time in France and were actually banned from the official instruction. However, Wurtz, who was an enthusiastic teacher, foreseeing the fecundity of the atomic theory, did not hesitate to teach it and, in his laboratory, sought constantly to discover new experimental confirmations of it. Friedel was thoroughly imbued with these theoretical ideas when he began his studies on the 'Lacetones," as ketones were then called. By studying the action of phosphorus pentachloride on ordinary acetone, he showed that this compound should not be included Action of Methyl Iodide on Benzene in the eresense of Aluminvm Chloride. A l l of the text h in the writing of J . M. Crafts.
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