Friedel, Charles (1832-1899)

French organic chemist and mineralogist. Together with US chemist James Mason Crafts (1839-1917) he discovered the Friedel-Crafts reaction which uses aluminium chloride as a catalyst to facilitate the addition of an alkyl halide (halogenoalkane) to an aromatic compound. The reaction is now employed in the industrial preparation of triphenylamine dyes.Throughout his career, Friedel successfully combined his interests in chemistry and minerals.

Doing research into various alcohols, Friedel synthesized glycerol (propan-1,2,3-triol) from propylene (propene) 1871. Friedel and Crafts collaborated during the period 1874-91 and in 1877 they discovered the Friedel-Crafts reaction. From 1879 to 1887 Friedel worked on the attempted synthesis of minerals, including diamonds, using heat and pressure. He established the similarity in properties and structure between carbon and silicon.

Friedel was born in Strasbourg and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. He qualified in both chemistry and mineralogy and in 1856 was made curator of the collection of minerals at the Ecole des Mines. In 1871 he became an instructor at the Ecole Normale and from 1876 was professor of mineralogy at the Sorbonne.