Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier: Two showcase laureates of the nobel prize for chemistry

Angewandte Chemie - International Edition

Volumn 51, Issue 30, 2012, Pages 7376-7382

  Kagan, Henri B ^a  

^a Univ des Sciences Paris Sud   (France)

Author keywords

Grignard, Victor; History of science; Hydrogenation; Organic chemistry; Sabatier, Paul

Indexed keywords

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING; CHEMICAL REACTIONS; CHEMISTRY; HYDROGENATION;

GENERAL PUBLICS; GRIGNARD; GRIGNARD REAGENT; HISTORY OF SCIENCE; HYDROGENATING ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; SABATIER, PAUL; SCIENTIFIC CENTER;

ELECTRIC FURNACES;

EID: 84874604427     PISSN: 14337851     EISSN: 15213773     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201201849     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. For a recent biography of A. M. Saytzeff see: D. E. Lewis, Angew. Chem. 2011, 123, 6580-6586;
2. D. E. Lewis, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6452-6458.
3. P. Barbier, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1899, 128, 110-111.
4. V. Grignard, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1900, 130, 1322-1324.
5. V. Grignard, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1901, 132, 558-561;
6. V. Grignard, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1901, 132, 835-837.
7. V. Grignard, E. Urbain, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1902, 134, 849-851.
8. V. Grignard, Nobel lecture, December 11, 1912.
9. V. Grignard, E. Urbain, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1919, 169, 17-20.
10. M. Dunikowska, L. Turko, Angew. Chem. 2011, 123, 10226-10240;
11. M. Dunikowska, L. Turko, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 10050-10062.
12. R. Grignard: Centenaire de La naissance de Victor Grignard 1871-1971, Imprimerie Audin, Lyon, 1972.
13. P. Barbier, V. Grignard, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1898, 126, 251-253.
14. P. Barbier, Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 1910, 7, 206-207.
15. V. Grignard, Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 1910, 7, 453-454.
16. When I was a student in Collège de France between 1955 and 1960 I heard Prof. A. Horeau telling a story about the dispute between V. Grignard and P. Barbier. It was said that V. Grignard’s reply to P. Barbier was: “Sir, you gave me a bone to chew, I managed to extract the marrow from the bone”. I do not know if this anecdote is authentic.
17. “Genèse et évolution de la découverte des composés organo-magnésiens mixtes”: R. Locquin, Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 1950, 897-908.
18. L. Mond, C. Langer, F. Quincke, J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 1890, 57, 749-753.
19. Almost 100 years after Ludwig Mond’s synthesis of nickel carbonyl Günther Wilke published a review on organonickel chemistry. [17] He reported on the discovery of nickel carbonyl by Ludwig Mond and co-workers. They treated nickel in a combustion tube with carbon monoxide and burned the gases to render them harmless. Ludwig Mond noticed in the flame a greenish yellow color and believed that there was some arsenic present in the carbon monoxide. Then he heated the glass tube to get an arsenic mirror. A mirror was immediately formed but it was a nickel mirror! This discovery gave rise very soon to an industrial process of preparation of pure nickel which was generated from pyrolysis of the newly discovered and volatile [Ni(CO)4]. It attracted the attention of Paul Sabatier who decided to transfer on nickel unsaturated molecules other than carbon monoxide. The desired nickel/ethylene complex targeted by Paul Sabatier was finally synthesized many years later by Günther Wilke and co-workers. They prepared the unstable [Ni(ethylene)3] which was isolated as a crystalline compound.[18]
20. G. Wilke, Angew. Chem. 1988, 100, 189-211;
21. G. Wilke, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1988, 27, 185-206.
22. K. Fischer, K. Jonas, G. Wilke, Angew. Chem. 1973, 85, 620-621;
23. K. Fischer, K. Jonas, G. Wilke, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1973, 12, 565-566.
24. H. Moissan, C. Moureu, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1896, 122, 1241-1243.
25. P. Sabatier, J.-B. Senderens, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1897, 124, 1358-1361.
26. P. Sabatier, J.-B. Senderens, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 1897, 124, 616-618.
27. P. Sabatier, Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 1939, 6, 1261-1268.
28. “Non Conformity and Creativity: a Study of Paul Sabatier. Chemical Theory and the French Scientific Community”: M.-J. Nye, ISIS 1977, 68, 375-391.
29. F. Couderc, V. Ong-Meang, C. R. Chim. 2011, 14, 516-523.
30. P. Sabatier, Nobel lecture, December 11, 1912.
31. P. Sabatier wrote a famous texbook titled La Catalyse en Chimie Organique and published in 1913. There were several editions including an English translation in 1923. V. Grignard was the editor of Traité de Chimie Organique, a 23-volume multiauthor series published between 1935 and 1954. For a historical presentation of the series, see: M. Blondel-Mégrelis, Actual. Chim. 2004, 35-45.