Adolf von Baeyer, 1835–1917

Abstract

TWO of the outstanding organic chemists of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were Adolf von Baeyer and his pupil Emil Fischer. As the late Prof. W. H. Perkin said, “their influence has been profound, mainly no doubt because of the immense amount of work of fundamental importance which they have left behind, but to a scarcely less degree by reason of their influence as teachers”. The discoveries of Baeyer have also had a most important bearing on chemical industry, although he himself was little interested in their commercial exploitation. The side of theoretical organic chemistry which interested him most was the structural aspect, and in this his views, even in his early publications, were remarkably accurate. He modified in many ways the picture as left by Kekule, and in some parts modern developments have merely filled in the details.