Table Of ContentSPRINGER BRIEFS IN MOLECULAR SCIENCE
HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Michaela Wirth
László Zechmeister
His Life and
Pioneering Work in
Chromatography
SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science
History of Chemistry
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Michaela Wirth
László Zechmeister
His Life and Pioneering Work
in Chromatography
123
Michaela Wirth
Pasching
Austria
ISSN 2212-991X
ISBN 978-3-319-00641-3 ISBN 978-3-319-00642-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-00642-0
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Preface
Much thought, work, and effort was involved in the many inventions and devel-
opmentsofinstrumentsandprocedures,ofboththescientificworldaswellasthe
everyday life which we take for granted and do not spare a thought about. The
Germanword‘‘Sternstunde’’1isagoodexpressionwhichcharacterizes‘‘theonce-
in-a-lifetime opportunity some people have of being able to provide a lasting
contribution to the evolution of mankind’’ [1]. Many people fail in utilizing this
moment, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
LászlóZechmeisterwasforsurenotoneofthem.Herecognizedthepotentialof
the chromatographic method and made extensive use of it for his research about
naturalproducts.Zechmeisterpromotedtheuseandsuccessofchromatographyin
chemistry by citing the technique in many of his papers and by additionally pro-
viding monographs about this analytical method. His work represents ‘‘the fun-
damentals on which the development ofmodern chromatography was based’’[2].
Thisgenius,however,willnotonlyberememberedforhisachievementsinthe
field of chromatography, but also for the foundation of the series Progress in the
Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, a journal including articles on contem-
porary research by masters in their fields of expertise. The aim of this thesis is to
castlightonZechmeister’slifeandhispioneeringroleinchromatography,andto
provide a more detailed insight on the aforementioned journal series.
Theaccomplishmentandthesuccessfulconclusionofthisworkwouldnothave
beenpossiblewithoutthesupportandthecontributionsofanumberofpeopleand
institutions. I would especially like to thank Univ.-Doz. Dr. Rudolf Werner
Soukupforhisguidanceandsuggestions.Specialthanksalsogotothelibrarystaff
ofarchivesoftheEidgenössischeUniversitätZürichandtheCaliforniaInstituteof
Technology, Pasadena. Their assistance in the acquisition of archive material has
been essential to this work.
1 Engl.:momentofglory.
v
vi Preface
References
1. Ettre LS (1979) 75 years of chromatography: a glimpse behind the scene. J High Resolut
ChromatogrChromatogrCommun2:506
2. Ettre LS (1972) In memoriam László Zechmeister 1889–1972. Chromatographia 5/5:317.
http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=p6811478246530vp&size=largest.
Accessed30June2011
Contents
1 The Life of László Zechmeister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Biographical Dates and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 László Zechmeister’s Personality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Awards and Honors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Zechmeister’s Influence on the Development
of Chromatography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Literary Contributions to the History of Chromatography. . . . . 10
2.2 National Award in Chromatography of the ACS . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Working with Chromatography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 Hitherto Mostly Disregarded Contributions to the Development
of the Chromatographic Method Made by Austrian Chemists. . . . 17
3.1 Zdenko Hans Skraup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Fritz Prior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4 The Series ‘‘Progress in the Chemistry of Organic
Natural Products’’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5 Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products:
A Closer Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.1 Volume 1 (1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.2 Volume 2 (1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.3 Volume 3 (1939). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.4 Volume 4 (1945). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.5 Volume 5 (1948). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.6 Volume 6 (1950). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.7 Volume 7 (1950). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.8 Volume 8 (1951). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.9 Volume 9 (1952). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
vii
viii Contents
5.10 Volume 10 (1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.11 Volume 11 (1954) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.12 Volume 12 (1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.13 Volume 13 (1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.14 Volume 14 (1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.15 Volume 15 (1958) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.16 Volume 16 (1958) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.17 Volume 17 (1959) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.18 Volume 18 (1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.19 Volume 19 (1961) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.20 Volume 20 (1962) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.21 Volume 21 (1963) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.22 Volume 22 (1964) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.23 Volume 23 (1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.24 Volume 24 (1966) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.25 Volume 25 (1967) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.26 Volume 26 (1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.27 Volume 27 (1969) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 1
The Life of László Zechmeister
1.1 Biographical Dates and Events
LászlóZechmeisterwasbornonMay14th,18891inthecityofGyör,atowninthe
north-westofHungary.Atatimewhenthemajorityofthepopulationwasworking
as artisans, merchants, and farmers, his father Karl Zechmeister held the position
ofmayorandcrowncounsel2ofthecityofGyör[2].Duringhistimeofmayoralty,
thetowndevelopedtothethirdmostimportantindustrialcentreinthecountry[3].
Withtheintentiontoacquirethebestpossibleeducation,Lászlóattendedgrammar
school and earned his ‘‘Maturitätszeugnis’’3 in June 1906. He was recruited to
serve in the Hungarian military for 1 year from October 1906 onwards [2]. In
1907, Zechmeister commenced his studies in chemistry at the highly reputable
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology4 Zurich. In the following 5 years, he fol-
lowed the lectures and enjoyed the guidance of Richard Willstätter.5 After 7
semestersofstudies,LászlóreceivedhisdegreeastechnicalchemistonMarch20,
1911. When Willstätter left for Berlinin1912,Zechmeister followed and worked
ashisassistantfrom1912to1914.Duringthisperiod,hewrotehisdoctoratethesis
ZurKenntnisderCelluloseunddesLigninsinordertoattaintheDr.Ing.degree.6
Experiments were conducted both at the analytical-chemical laboratories at the
ETH Zurich until July 1912 and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in
Berlin-Dahlem until July 1913 [2].
1 TheobituarypublishedonthewebsiteoftheCaltechOfficeofPublicRelationsindicates1890
ashisyearofbirth[1].
2 Germ.:KöniglicherRat.
3 Engl.:certificateofeligibilityforuniversityentrance.
4 EidgenössischeTechnischeHochschule,short:ETH.
5 1872–1942;WillstätterwontheNobelPrizeinChemistryin1927.
6 The paper amounts to 75 pages and is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and an
experimentalpart,eachdealingwithinvestigationsofthecelluloseandtheligninoftrees.Atthe
beginning of the paper, a short line is printed indicating that the work is dedicated to
Zechmeister’sdearfather.HealsopointedoutthatitishisdesiretothankhisteacherWillstätter
forhisguidance.
M.Wirth,LászlóZechmeister,SpringerBriefsinHistoryofChemistry, 1
DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-00642-0_1,(cid:2)TheAuthor(s)2013
2 1 TheLifeofLászlóZechmeister
However,hisscientificcareerwasinterruptedwhenthepoliticalinstabilitiesof
theearlytwentiethcenturyresultedintheoutbreakofWorldWarIin1914.Again,
ZechmeisterwasenlistedfortheHungarianarmyandhadtofightonthefrontline
where he was injured twice. He was taken captive and sent to a Russian prison
camp in Siberia. One attempt to escape imprisonment failed, and he was interned
again[1].DuringthetimeofcaptivityhetaughthimselftheEnglishlanguagewith
the help of an English—Russian dictionary. Needless to say, the acquisition of
anotherforeignlanguageaddedontohissetofskills[1].In1919,hewasreleased
andfirstreturnedtoMunichinordertorejoinWillstätter,andthenmovedbackto
Hungary. But due to the post war chaos in his home country and in Germany, he
couldonlyfindtemporarypositions[4],suchastheworkofascientificleaderina
pharmaceutical factory in Hungary, where he conducted industrial chemical
research[1,5].However,alsofinancialproblemstroubledhim,andLászlóhadto
move to a country with a more stable currency [3]. He was offered a teaching
appointment at the Royal Danish Agriculture and Veterinary Academy in
Copenhagen, where he worked as an instructor and scientific assistant of Niels
Bjerrum from 1921 to 1923 [1]. Zechmeister loved Denmark and the Danes, and
this was no one-sided affection, which is evident by him being elected a foreign
memberoftheRoyalDanishAcademyofSciencelateron[3].Then,finally,hewas
offered professorship of medical chemistry and directorship of the chemistry
laboratoryofthemedicalschoolatthenewlyestablishedUniversityofPécs.7This
was ofcourse agreat honor, as Zechmeisterwas only 33 yearsold, and there had
never been such a young person holding this position in Hungary before [4].
However, being of young age was not his only obstacle. The university as an
institutionhadoperatedinearlieryearsinPozsony(todayBratislava).Inrespectto
equipment,everythingstayedinBratislava[6],onlythenamewastransferredtothe
new university.Zechmeister wasmainlyinvolved inorganizationalwork,such as
thebuildingprocessofthepremisesandthelaboratoriesandthehiringofscientific
staff. It has to be taken into consideration that in the twenties, during the period
betweentheworldwars,money,andworkforcewasscarce[4].Also,thesizeofhis
team of scientists was small. There was one associate professor, László
Cholnoky8—whowashisclosecollaborator,coauthorofvariousmonographsand
eventuallyhissuccessor—andafewgraduatestudents[4].Itisverylikelythatthe
reasonforZechmeisterworkingwithorpublishingaboutchromatographicanalysis
later than Richard Kuhn9 und Paul Karrer10 was this disadvantaged position
regardingthepoorstateofhislaboratory.KuhninHeidelbergandKarrerinZurich,
onthecontrary,weregenerouslyfundedandcouldavailthemselvesofalargestaff
7 InthetreatyofTrianon(1920),Hungarylosttwo-thirdsofitsformerterritorytothesuccessor
states.TwoHungarianuniversitieswereinthatarea, andthereforenewuniversities had tobe
established. One was settled in Pècs, as there had already been a university in medieval
times[6].
8 1899–1967.
9 1900–1967;KuhnwontheNobelPrizeinChemistryin1938.
10 1889–1971;KarrerwontheNobelPrizeinChemistryin1937.
