By Ryder Davis
Kurt Alder was born July 10th 1902 in what is now
Poland. He spent his childhood in Upper Silesia, but
was forced to leave his home after world war 1. His
father, Joseph Alder, was a schoolteacher in the
nearby town of Kattowitz. His parents died during
world war 2 because they were Jewish. In 1922 he
studied chemistry at Berlin University, and later he
went to Kiel and continued his studies and later got
his degree of Ph.D In 1926. In 1940 Alder was
appointed to the chair for experimental Chemistry
and chemical Technology at Cologne University. He
also received 2 invitations from 2 different
Universities but declined both of them.
Kurt Alder was an Organic Chemist. Organic
Chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with
carbon: originally confined to compounds produced
by living organisms but now extended to include
man-made substances based on carbon, such as
plastics. Before the nineteenth century, chemists
believed that compounds were obtained from living
organisms were endowed with a vital force that
distinguished them from inorganic compounds.
According to the concept of vitalism (vital force
theory), organic matter was endowed with a “vital
force”. During the first half of the nineteenth century,
some of the first systematic Studies of organic
compounds where reported.
Kurt Alder and Otto Paul Hermann Diels were
awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1950
for his discovery of diene synthesis (kurt alder
was 48 when he won the award.)
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Nobel Peace Prize (chemistry)
Emil Fischer Memorial Medal
Kurt Alder was famous for the discovery of a
chemical reaction named Diels-alder reaction.
(info on slide 8)
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Diels-Alder reaction
The Alder-Ene reaction
Kurt Alder discovered many things. And one of
them was the Diels-Alder reaction, a type of
chemical reaction in which one organic
compound containing conjugated (Joined) double
bonds adds to another containing an ethylene (a
flammable gas) bond to form a product
containing a ring.
In 1943 Kurt Alder discovered the Alder-ene
reaction. The Alder ene is a chemical reaction
between Alkene and allylic hydrogen a
compound with a multiple bond (the enophile),a
technique widely exploited in chemical synthesis.
There is a crater on the moon named after Kurt
Alder (the Alder crater). The Alder crater is a
lunar impact crater that is located in the southern
hemisphere on the far side of the moon.
Kurt Alder died June 20, 1958 Cologne, Germany
Age 55