HERMANN STAUDINGER ( 1 8 8 1 Hermann Staudinger, outstanding organic chemist. born a t Worms, March 23, 1881, received his chemical education a t Darmstadt, Munich, Halle (W.D. 1902). He has taught a t Strassburg (1903-07). Karlsruhe (1907-12). Z u r i ~ h(1912-25). pince 1926 he has directed the chemical laboratones a t Eraburg I. Br. The first period of his scientific activity (1902-20) is recorded in numerous publications: twenty-six on aliphatic diazo compounds, five on organic compounds of phosphorus, seven on oxal 1 chloride, sin on auto-oxidation, fifty on ketenes. His brocXure: "Die Ketene" (1912) is still a standard work. I n twelve spers on insect poisons, he and Ruzicka reported findings that cufmnnated in their elucidation of the constitution of pyret h i n I and 11. A sharp rise in the price of pepper led him to investigate the relation between chemical constitution and pepper taste and the preparation of synthetic pepper. His study (with Reichstein) of the constituents of coffeearoma resulted in several patents. Since 1920 he has devoted himself almost entirely to a field in which he is now the leadingauthority. I n more than two hundred papers and in his comprehensive book "Die hochmolekularen organischen Verbindungen, Kautschuk und Cellulose" (1932), he has set forth the fruits of his studies of the physical and chemical behavior of systems containing giant molecules. Great advances in the understanding of the constitution and properties of cellulose, starch, rubber and highly polymerized synthetic have come from his laboratory. Reduction of caoutchouc t o hydrocaoutchouc showed that the colloidal particles in dispersions of the latter are macromolecules. The structure of these large chemical units was investigated first in the relatively simple case of the polyorymethylenes and it was shown that X-ray studies reveal nothing decisive regarding the
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rnetgnitude of the chemical molecule. The important concept "polymeric homologous series" was developed from the investigation of the polystyrols. The older divisions of colloidal systems were found inadequate and a new classification wasevolved. The particles of molreulor colloids consist of many atoms bound together by normal covalences; they are true compounds of high molecular weight, while the miccllar colloidal particles (c. g., soap solutions) consist of associations of smaller molecules united by the weaker inter-molecular (van der Wads) forces. The stability of a colloidal particle and its chemical behavior are conditioned by this internal architecture; its colloidal behavior depends on its shape. Hence a further division into linear colloids (c. g., cellulose) and sphcricol mlloids (glycogen). The linear macromolecular materials are further subdivided into hemi-, mero-, and eucolloids. Only the latter have the ability to form fibers and films. Dispersions of sphero-colloids show low viscosity and obey the Einstein law, while a special viscosity law, discovered in 1932, holds for the highly viscous systems containing long thread-like molecules. This relation makes i t possible to determine the molecular weight of these materials, whose degree of pol,vmerization often extends into the thousands. Professor Staudinger's "Anleitung zur organischen qualitativen Analyse" has been translated into English, French, Spanish, and Japanese. A second edition of his "Tabellen zu den Vorlesungen iiher allgemeine und anorganische Chemie" was published in 1935. Academies and learned societies have conferred honorary membership on him. He holds the Emil Fischer Memorial Medal of the Verein Deutscher Chemiker (1930), the Le Blanc Medal of the SocietC chimique d? Frnnce (1932). and the Cvnnizzaro Prize of the Accademia dei Llncel (1934). (Contrihehd b,y Ralph E. Oc.rp
