Fischer, Emil Hermann (1852–1919)

German chemist who produced synthetic sugars and, from these, various enzymes. His descriptions of the chemistry of the carbohydrates and peptides laid the foundations for the science of biochemistry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1902 for his work on the synthesis of sugars and purine compounds.

In about 1882, Fischer began working on a group of compounds that included uric acid and caffeine. He realized that they were all related to a hitherto unknown substance, which he called purine. Over the next few years he synthesized about 130 related compounds, one of which was the first synthetic nucleotide. These studies led to the synthesis of powerful hypnotic drugs derived from barbituric acids (barbiturates).

Fischer was born near Bonn and educated there and at Strasbourg and Munich. He held professorships at Erlangen 1882–85, Würzburg 1885–92, and Berlin from 1892.

In 1884 Fischer discovered a key reaction in the study of sugars. He went on to determine the structures of glucose, fructose, mannose, and the group of sugars known collectively as hexoses.

Fischer's investigations into the chemistry of proteins began in 1899. He synthesized the amino acids ornithine (1,4-diaminopentanoic acid) in 1901, serine (1-hydroxy-2-aminobutanoic acid) in 1902, and the sulphur-containing cystine in 1908. He then combined amino acids to form polypeptides.