Friedrich August Kekule Enid S. Llpeles Mesuk High School Monroe. CT 06468
Friedrich August Kekule (1829-96) developed the theory of the tetravalence of carbon and brought order to the chaos of organic compound classification. He not only demonstrated that carbon is tetravalent in simple compounds such as methane, carhon tetrachloride, and-carbon dioxide, but also that in compounds containing more than one carbon, the atoms can link together into chains which can form polyvalent radicals. Kekule was a student of architecture at the University of Giessen when he came under the influence of Justus von Liebig and turned his attention to chemistry ( I ) . He first worked under the direction of Heinrich Will, studying the ester of amvlsulfuric acid and its salts. In 1850. he beean to work in liebig's laboratory. Uurmg this associatiun, Kekule studied the wmnohition d r l u t c n and wheat hran. Liehie. offered him an assktantship,but Kekule did not like laboratorv work and decided to continue his studies abroad. Kekule traveled to Paris to study physics and chemistrv, and he became the student and la
