- Walter Reppe
Infobox Scientist
name = Walter Reppe
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birth_date =July 29 ,1892
birth_place = Göringen,Germany
death_date = death date and age|1969|7|26|1892|7|29
death_place =Heidelberg ,Germany
residence =Germany
nationality = German
ethnicity =
field =chemistry
work_institutions =BASF ,University of Mainz , THDarmstadt
alma_mater =University of Jena ,University of Munich
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known_for = chemistry ofacetylene
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footnotes =Walter Julius Reppe (b. 29 July 1892 in Göringen, d. 26 July 1969 in
Heidelberg ) was a Germanchemist . He is notable for his contributions to the chemistry ofacetylene .Education and career
Walter Reppe began his study of the natural sciences
University of Jena in 1911. Interrupted by theFirst World War , he obtained hisdoctorate inMunich in 1920.In 1921, Reppe worked for
BASF 's main laboratory. From 1923, he worked on the catalytic dehydration offormamide toprussic acid in theindigo laboratory, developing this procedure for industrial use. In 1924, he left research for 10 years, only resuming it in 1934.Acetylene chemistry
Reppe began his interest in
acetylene in 1928. Acetylene is a gas which can take part in manychemical reaction s. However, it was explosive and accidents often occurred. Because of this danger, small quantities of acetylene were used at a time, and always without high pressures. In fact, it was forbidden to compress acetylene over 1.5 bar at BASF.Reactions at such low pressures did not correspond at all to the traditions at BASF, and one could expect no useful process engineering results. Reppe commented in 1949 retrospectively: "therefore the necessity resulted to break with all delivered opinions and to study first of all the acetylene decay with consideration of the most diverse test conditions of reason on, in order to determine suitable safety precautions, one safe working also in the industrial yardstick made possible."Fact|date=February 2007 To work with acetylene safely, Reppe designed special test tubes, the so-called "Reppe glasses" — stainless steel spheres with screw-type cap, which permitted high pressure experiments. The efforts ended finally with a large number of interconnected reactions, known as "Reppe chemistry".
Reppe chemistry
The high pressure reactions catalysed by heavy metal
acetylide s, especiallycopper acetylide , or metalcarbonyl s is called Reppe Chemistry. Reactions can be classified into four large classes:* The
vinyl ization according to the equation:* Preparing ethynyldiols from
aldehyde s according to the equation:* Reactions with
carbon monoxide :This simple synthesis was used to prepare
acrylic acid derivatives for the production ofacrylic glass .* The cyclic
polymerization This reaction provided an unusual route to
benzene and especially tocyclooctatetraene , which was difficult to prepare otherwise.Products from these four reaction types proved to be versatile intermediates in the syntheses of lacquers, adhesives, foam materials, textile fibers, and pharmaceuticals could now be produced.
Post-war
After the
Second World War , Reppe led the research of BASF from 1949 up to his retirement in 1957. From 1952 to 1966, he also sat on the supervisory board. He was also a professor at theUniversity of Mainz and THDarmstadt from 1951 and 1952 respectively. Together withOtto Bayer andKarl Ziegler he received theWerner-von-Siemens-Ring in1960 for expanding the scientific knowledge on and for the technical development of new synthetic high-molecular materials.Legacy
Most of the industrial processes that were developed by Reppe and coworkers have been superseded, largely because acetylenes are expensive, high energy species relative to alkenes which are more cheaply produced. Together with his contemporaries
Otto Roelen ,Karl Ziegler ,Hans Tropsch , andFranz Joseph Emil Fischer , Reppe was a leader in demonstrating the utility of metal-catalyzed reactions in large scale synthesis of organic compounds. The economic benefits demonstrated by this research motivated the eventual flowering oforganometallic chemistry and its close connection to industry.Publications
* "Neue Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der Chemie des Acetylen und Kohlenoxyds" (New developments in the area of the chemistry acetylene and carbon monoxide). Springer Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg. 1949. 184 pages.
*cite journal
author = Reppe, W.; Schlichting, O.; Klager, K.; Toepel, T.
title = Cyclisierende Polymerisation von Acetylen I Über Cyclooctatetraen
journal = Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem.
year = 1948
volume =
issue =
pages = 1–93
doi =
*cite journal
author = Reppe, W.; Schlichting, O.; Meister, H.
title = Cyclisierende Polymerisation von Acetylen II Über die Kohlenwasserstoffe C10H10 C12H12 Azulen
journal = Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem.
year = 1948
volume =
issue =
pages = 93–104
doi =
*cite journal
author = Reppe, W.; Schweckendiek W. J
title = Cyclisierende Polymerisation von Acetylen III Benzol, Benzolderivate und hydroaromatische Verbindungen
journal = Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem.
year = 1948
volume =
issue =
pages = 104–116
doi =References
"Parts of this article is translated from the German wikipedia article, ."
Further reading
* [http://dispatch.opac.d-nb.de/DB=4.1/REL?PPN=118599763 Documents by and about Walter Reppe] in the catalog of the German national library
*cite journal
author = Morris P. J. T.
title = The Technology-Science Interaction - Reppe, Walter and Cyclooctatetraene Chemistry
journal = British Journal of the History of Science
year = 1992
volume = 25
issue = 84
pages = 145–167
doi =
*cite journal
author = Mummel H. G. .
title = Reppe, Walter 1892 - 1969 - Obituary
journal = Chemishe Berichte-Recueil
year = 1984
volume = 117
issue = 3
pages = R1–R21
doi =
* [http://www.euchems.org/Distinguished/20thCentury/reppe.asp Biography at the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences]
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