Kolbe, (Adolf Wilhelm) Hermann (1818–1884)

German chemist, generally regarded as the founder of modern organic chemistry with his synthesis of ethanoic (acetic) acid – an organic compound – from inorganic starting materials. (Previously organic chemistry had been devoted to compounds that occur only in living organisms.)

Kolbe was born near Göttingen and educated there. He worked in the UK 1845–47, at the London School of Mines. In 1851 he was appointed professor at Marburg; by 1865 he had moved to Leipzig and embarked on establishing a laboratory bigger and better equipped than any other.

Kolbe correctly realized that organic compounds can be derived from inorganic materials by simple substitution. He introduced a modified idea of structural radicals, which contributed to the development of the structure theory, and he predicted the existence of secondary and tertiary alcohols. His most important work was on the electrolysis of the fatty (alkanoic) acids, his preparation of salicylic acid (2-hydroxybenzenecarboxylic acid) from phenol – called the Kolbe reaction, which was to lead to an easy synthesis of aspirin – and his discovery of nitromethane. But his work suffered from his refusal to abandon equivalent weights in favour of atomic weights (relative atomic masses).