Martin Freund (August 13, 1863 inNysa, Kingdom of Prussia – March 13, 1920 inFrankfurt am Main) was a Germanchemist and professor at theGoethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main.
Freund was born the son of a Jewish merchant. After graduating from theRealgymnasium at the Zwinger in Breslau, he started to studychemistry at theUniversity of Breslau and theHumboldt University of Berlin in 1881. He received hisdoctorate in 1884. (contribution to the knowledge of malonic acid). During his studies he became a member of theAkademischer Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein zu Breslau in 1881.[1] He was assistant toHermann Wichelhaus and lecture assistant toAugust Wilhelm von Hofmann. In 1888 he habilitated in Berlin and in 1895 joined the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main as a lecturer, where he headed its chemical laboratory. From 1905 he was a lecturer at the Akademie für Sozial- und Handelswissenschaften (Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences). In 1914 he became full professor of chemistry at the faculty of natural sciences of the newly founded University of Frankfurt[2] and director of the chemical institute. Freund was a confidant ofFritz Haber, to whose wife he was related.[3]
At the chemical institute he maintained close ties with industry (e.g. the companiesCassella,Degussa,Hoechst,Metallgesellschaft).[4]
Freund dealt withalkaloids and clarified the composition of, for example,narcotine and contributed to the clarification of the composition ofcodeine andmorphine. In 1910, he found a method of synthesising polycarboxylic acids via aFriedel-Crafts reaction ofmalonic acid derivatives witharomatic Hydrocarbons. WithEdmund Speyer, he first synthesised theopioidoxycodone,[5] which was subsequently marketed as the analgesic Eukodal by Merck.[6]
The Letter acids (1-naphtylamine-3,5-disulfonic acid), a coupling component of dye chemistry, is incorrectly assigned to Martin Freund in the literature.[7] However, the name goes back to a patent of Louis Freund (St. Ludwig, Upper Alsace) of 1883,[8] it was transferred to BASF after registration.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
