# Willy Marckwald

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Willy_Marckwald
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Willy_Marckwald.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Marckwald
> Source revision: 1317811151
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|German chemist (1864–1942)}}
thumb|Willy Marckwald ''c.'' 1900 shortly after his Habilitation in 1889
'''Willy Marckwald''' (1864, [Jakobskirch](/source/Radwanice%2C_Polkowice_County), [Kingdom of Prussia](/source/Kingdom_of_Prussia) – 1942, [Rolândia](/source/Rol%C3%A2ndia), Brazil)<ref>[http://digital.cjh.org:1801/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1308380852657~610 Guide to the Willy Marckwald Collection, 1931-1934]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, AR 10156. Leo Baeck Institute Archives. Center for Jewish History</ref> was a German chemist.

==Biography==
thumb|left|Dr. W. Marckwald's signature in 1899 at the beginning of his appointment to the ''II. Chemischen Institut''
Marckwald studied at Berlin's [Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität](/source/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin) and received there from the First Chemical Institute in 1886 his [Promotierung](/source/Promotion_(Germany)) under [A. W. Hofmann](/source/August_Wilhelm_von_Hofmann) with a dissertation on organic chemistry entitled ''Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Thialdehyde und Thialdine''.<ref>Inaugural-Dissertation "Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Thialdehyde und Thialdine", results published as [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90706t/f679.image.r=chemische%20berichte.langDE ''Ueber Zersetzungsprodukte des rhodanwasserstoffsauren Thialdins''], Ber. dt. Chem. Ges. '''19''', 1826 (1886) & [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90706t/f1236.image.r=chemische%20berichte.langDE ''Ueber das Methylthialdin''], Ber. dt. Chem. Ges. '''19''', 2378 (1886).</ref>

By his research on [furan](/source/furan)s, Marckwald received his [Habilitation](/source/Habilitation)<ref>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90763n/f2158.image.r=chemische%20berichte.langDE Marckwald - Publikationsübersicht 1888–1896]</ref> in a very short time in 1889 under the supervision of A. W. Hofmann at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin. In 1899 Marckwald became one of the department heads at the Second Chemical Institute.<ref>[http://www.universitaetssammlungen.de/sammlung/1021 Historie II. Chem. Institut]: Vorstand (chief executive) to 1891 [Carl Rammelsberg](/source/Karl_Friedrich_August_Rammelsberg), 1891–1904 [Hans Heinrich Landolt](/source/Hans_Heinrich_Landolt), 1905–1923 [Walter Nernst](/source/Walter_Nernst), from 1923 [Max Bodenstein](/source/Max_Bodenstein). - Bunsenstraße 1, Berlin. In 1905 the Second Chemical Institute (II. Chemische Institut) was renamed the "Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut" (the Institute of Physical Chemistry).</ref> He held this Privatdozent-level position until his age-related retirement in 1930.

From 1928 to 1931 he was the board chair of the German Chemical Society.

In 1890 Marckwald married Margarete Salomon (1871–1908). Their marriage produced two sons, Friedrich (1892–1917), who died in World War I as a naval aviator, and Johann (1902–1986). In 1936 Willy Marckwald, with his son Johann and his daughter-in-law Prisca, became immigrants in Brazil.

==Scientific work==
From the starting point of his Promotierung dissertation and Habilitation, Marckwald developed a wide interest in all the fields of chemistry of his era. In [heterocyclic chemistry](/source/heterocyclic_chemistry), building upon the research done on [Gabriel synthesis](/source/Gabriel_synthesis), he developed a method for synthesis of [aziridine](/source/aziridine)s from β-halogen-amines. This ring closure method, known as the Gabriel-Marckwald reaction, allows the preparation of [heterocyclic amines](/source/heterocyclic_amines) that are [''n''-membered](/source/heterocyclic_compound), where n=3,4,5,6, or 7.<ref>S. Gabriel: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k907133/f1097.image.r=chemische%20berichte.langDE ''Ueber Vinylamin'']. In: Ber. dt. chem. Ges. '''21''', 1049 (1888)</ref><ref>C. C. Howard, W. Marckwald: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90753b/f685.image.langEN ''Zur Constitution des Vinylamins'']. In: Ber. dt. chem. Ges. '''32''', 2036 (1899)</ref><ref>W. Marckwald: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k907551/f769.image.langEN ''Ueber das Dimethylenimin'']. In: Ber. dt. chem. Ges. '''33''', 764 (1900)</ref><ref>W. Marckwald, O. Frobenius: ''Ueber Verbindungen aus der Aethyleniminreihe.'' In: Ber. dt. chem. Ges. '''34''', 3544 (1901). {{doi|10.1002/cber.19010340346}}</ref>
In so far as possible, Marckwald sold the patent rights for use in industry.<ref>US-Patent Nr. 500665: [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=US&NR=500665A&KC=A&FT=D&ND=3&date=18930704&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=de_EP Verfahren zur Herstellung von Piperazin], angemeldet 26. Mai 1892, Nutzungsrechte Chemische Fabrik auf Aktien (Schering)</ref> On this topic, he also wrote monographs of general interest.<ref>[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006510860 „Ueber die Beziehungen zwischen dem Siedepunkte und der Zusammensetzung chemischer Verbindungen welche bisher erkannt worden sind“]</ref>

At the Second Chemical Institute, Marckwald did pioneering research on kinetic resolution and stereoselective synthesis.
thumb|Asymmetrische Katalyse
Three of his outstanding achievements were:
* 1899, [Kinetic resolution by synthetic means](/source/Kinetic_resolution);<ref>W. Marckwald, Alex. McKenzie: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90753b/f779.image.r=Berichte%20der%20Deutschen%20Chemischen%20Gesellschaft.langEN ''Ueber eine principiell neue Methode zur Spaltung racemischer Verbindungen in die Bestandtheile'']. In: Ber. dtsch. chem. Ges. '''32''', 2130 (1899).</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Stewart, A. W.|authorlink=Alfred Walter Stewart|author2=Graham, H.|title=Recent Advances in Organic Chemistry|publisher=Longmans, Green and Company|year=1908|pages=[https://archive.org/details/recentadvancesi02stewgoog/page/n62 40]–41|url=https://archive.org/details/recentadvancesi02stewgoog}}</ref>
* 1900, Methods for enantiomer separation by crystallization of derivatives;<ref>W. Marckwald: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k907582/f596.image.langEN ''Ueber die Trennung der Amylalkohole des Fuselöles'']. In: Ber. dtsch. chem. Ges. '''34''', 479 (1901).</ref>
* 1904, [Enantioselective chemical synthesis](/source/Enantioselective_synthesis) (''Asymmetrische Katalyse'').<ref>W. Marckwald: [https://archive.org/stream/berichtederdeut07gesegoog#page/n355/mode/1up ''Ueber asymmetrische Synthese'']. In: Ber. dtsch. chem. Ges. '''37''', 349 (1904).</ref>

At the Second Chemical Institute under Landolt's direction, Marckwald beginning in 1900 turned increasingly toward theory<ref>[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001422997 „Die Benzoltheorie“ von W. Marckwald, 1898]</ref> but also to the inorganic chemistry of radioactive compounds. He collaborated on Landolt's sections in the textbook ''Graham-Otto's ausführlichem Lehrbuch der Chemie''. From 5 metric tons of uranium ore, in 1902 Marckwald succeeded in isolating 3 milligrams of [polonium](/source/polonium), which he provisionally (''vorläufig'') named radio-tellurium.<ref>''Die 14. Hauptversammlung der Bunsengesellschaft''. In: ''Polytechnisches Journal''. Band 322, 1907, Miszelle 1, Seite 364.:  „3 mg Poloniumsalz aus 5.000 kg Uranerz“.</ref><ref name="Sieghard Neufeldt">{{citation|surname1=Sieghard Neufeldt|title=Chronologie Chemie |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|pages=115|isbn=978-352766284-5|date=  2012|language=German|url={{Google books|0lFQjLAlgC0C|plainurl=y|page=115}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y5NFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA461|title=Radio-tellurium|author=Marckwald, W.|journal=Nature|date=17 March 1904|volume=69|issue=1794|page=461|doi=10.1038/069461a0|bibcode=1904Natur..69..461M |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Quinn, Susan|title=Marie Curie: A Life|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/mariecurielife00quin/page/173 173]|publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-67542-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/mariecurielife00quin|url-access=registration}}</ref> In 1904 he published a monograph on radioactivity.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/berbecquerelstra00marc#page/n5/mode/2up „Über Bequerelstrahlen und radio-aktive Substanzen“]. Moderne Ärztliche Bibliothek, Heft 7 (1904)</ref>

{{blockquote|Marckwald has worked up the crude tellurium obtained from about 15 tons of pitchblende. By dissolving the material and precipitating with sulphur dioxide, about 16 g. of a mixture of selenium, tellurium and radio-tellurium were obtained. Upon oxidizing this with nitric acid, evaporating to dryness and warming with a solution of ammonia, a residue weighing about 3 mg. was obtained, which apparently contained practically all of the radio-active material, and possessed "enormous" activity.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Radio-tellurium|journal=The American Journal of Science|year=1905|volume=s. 169–170|page=324|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_vRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA324}}</ref>}}

In 1911 Marckwald and Alexander Smith Russell published evidence suggesting that the radioactive thorium isotope <sup>230</sup>Th and [ionium](/source/ionium) are identical.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Lind SC|author2=Whitemore CF|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|year=1914|volume=36|title=The Radium : Uranium Ratio in Carnotites|issue=10|pages=2067|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sj9GAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2067|doi=10.1021/ja02187a010|bibcode=1914JAChS..36.2066L |hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t5v699p3j|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
thumb|DChG-Ehrung 1916
* 1916 — special honor from the German Chemical Society
* 1919 — appointment as honorary professor of inorganic chemistry at the Königlichen Technischen Hochschule Charlottenburg<ref>Technische Universität Berlin: [http://www.universitaetssammlungen.de/sammlung/1015 Sammlung anorganischer Präparate - Anorganisches Laboratorium]. - Vorstand [Karl Andreas Hofmann](/source/Karl_Andreas_Hofmann) befasste sich mit radioaktiven Stoffen.</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sammlungen.hu-berlin.de/dokumente/17246/ Archivdaten der Humboldt-Universität]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211183704/http://www.berlinintensiv.de/personen/person.html?tmpl=component&id=3197 |date=December 11, 2013 |title=Willy Marckwald im Dunstkreis von Emil Fischer }}
* [http://access.cjh.org/home.php?type=extid&term=1569683#1 zeitgenössische Unterlagen aus Zeit der Weimarer Republik, Dankesschreiben des Rektors Dezember 1934]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marckwald, Willy}}
Category:1864 births
Category:1942 deaths
Category:19th-century German chemists
Category:German biochemists
Category:People from Polkowice County
Category:20th-century German chemists
Category:German emigrants to Brazil

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Willy Marckwald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Marckwald) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Marckwald?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.