Background
Emil Erlenmeyer was born on June 28, 1825, in Wehen, Germany, the son of a Protestant minister.
University of Giessen, Ludwigstraße 23, 35390 Gießen, Germany
Erlenmeyer enrolled in the University of Giessen to study medicine, but after attending lectures of Justus von Liebig changed to chemistry. He finished his doctorate in 1850.
Heidelberg UniversityGrabengasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
In the summer of 1846 Erlenmeyer went to Heidelberg for one year, and studied physics, botany and mineralogy, returning to Giessen in 1847.
The Erlenmeyer chemical flask.
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Alfons-Goppel-Straße 11, 80539 München, Germany
Erlenmeyer was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
A photo of Erlenmeyer taken for his 80th anniversary.
A photo of Erlenmeyer.
A photo of Erlenmeyer and other chemists.
Emil Erlenmeyer was born on June 28, 1825, in Wehen, Germany, the son of a Protestant minister.
Erlenmeyer enrolled in the University of Giessen to study medicine, but after attending lectures of Justus von Liebig changed to chemistry. In the summer of 1846, he went to Heidelberg for one year, and studied physics, botany, and mineralogy, returning to Giessen in 1847. After serving as assistant to H. Will and then to Carl Remigius Fresenius, Erlenmeyer decided to devote himself to pharmaceutical chemistry. For this purpose, he studied in Nassau, where he passed the state pharmaceutical examination, and shortly afterwards acquired an apothecary’s business, first at Katzenelnbogen and then in Wiesbaden. He became dissatisfied with pharmacy and returned to chemistry, finishing his doctorate at Giessen in 1850.
Erlenmeyer was a professor of chemistry at the Munich Polytechnic School from 1868 until his retirement in 1883. In addition to teaching and publishing many research papers, he was an editor of the Zeitschrift fur Chemie und Pharmazie and of Liebig’s Annalen der Chemie. He was a coauthor of the three-volume Lehrhuch der organischen Chemie (1867-1894).
Erlenmeyer published important work in both experimental and theoretical organic chemistry. His researches were mostly in the synthesis and constitution of aliphatic compounds. In 1865 he discovered and synthesized isobutyric acid. He synthesized guanidine in 1868 and gave the first correct structural formulas of guanidine, creatine, and creatinine. He prepared several hydroxy acids and explained the formation and structure of the lactones derived from them in 1880. He also synthesized tyrosine in 1883 and invented the conical flask that bears his name (1861).
Alexander Crum Brown in 1864 depicted the structures of organic compounds by drawing chemical bonds with dotted lines and enclosing the atomic symbols in circles. Chemists were hesitant to accept and use these graphic representations until Erlenmeyer in 1866 abandoned the old type formulas and adopted the new structural ones. By modifying Crum Brown’s graphic formulas, he introduced the modern structural notation.
Another central problem in the new structural theory concerned the constitution of ethylene and other unsaturated compounds. Crum Brown suggested that their unique feature was the sharing of two valence units by each of two carbon atoms. Erlenmeyer not only adopted the double bond for ethylene but also introduced the triple bond to represent acetylene. His formulas, using lines to represent chemical bonds, proved convincing, and chemists adopted his notation.
Erlenmeyer investigated constitutional problems and proposed structural formulas for many organic substances. He immediately adopted Kekulé’s ring structure for benzene and proposed the modern naphthalene formula of two benzene rings with two carbon atoms in common.
In 1880 he formulated what is known as the Erlenmeyer rule: "All alcohols in which the hydroxyl group is attached directly to a double-bonded carbon atom become aldehydes or ketones." He had attempted to prepare such alcohols but obtained the isomeric carbonyl compounds in every case. Erlenmeyer concluded that such alcohols were incapable of existence, being converted at the instant of their formation into aldehydes or ketones by an intramolecular rearrangement.
Erlenmeyer was one of the earliest disciples of Kekulé and advocated Kekulé’s views on the constitution of organic compounds at a time when many of the leading chemists still adhered to dualistic or to type theories. Erlenmeyer himself was converted from the old chemical types to the newer views on valence and structure.
Erlenmeyer was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Erlenmeyer was married, but his wife's name is unknown. The couple had a son, Friedrich, who also became a chemist.