Abstract
Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is one of the most ubiquitous chemical compounds in the history of the chemical sciences. Its most common use is as a quite versatile solvent, where it represents one of the very first nonaqueous solvents and most certainly the first polar solvent in this class. Not only is it miscible with both water and wide variety of other organic solvents, but it can solubilize a broad range of analytes. This includes most salts and other water-soluble substances, as well as a great many organic materials not soluble in water, such as fats, resins, and essential oils. As such, it still remains one of the most common chemical media for a wide range of solution-based chemical processes.
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Notes
- 1.
Alexander William Williamson (1824–1904) was born to Scottish parents in the London borough of Wandsworth, England [2–4]. He entered the University of Heidelberg in 1841 to fulfill his father's wish that he study medicine [3], but soon gave up medical studies to pursue chemistry under Leopold Gmelin (1788–1853) [2–4]. He moved to Giessen in 1844 to complete his chemical education under Justus Liebig (1803–1873) [2–4] before finally moving to Paris in 1846 where he studied mathematics under Augusta Comte (1798–1857) at the École Polytechnique [3, 4]. On the basis of important research on hypochlorous acid and on Prussian blue, he then succeeded George Fownes (1815–1849) as the professor of analytical chemistry at University College, London in 1849 [2, 4]. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1855 [2] and succeeded Thomas Graham (1805–1869) as professor of general chemistry [2, 4], which was combined with his former post. His best and most well known work was on the constitution of alcohol and ether [2–4], especially the Williamson ether synthesis that carries his name [8]. He resigned his position in 1887 and died in the village of Hindhead in Surrey, England in 1904 [2].
- 2.
Jean Baptiste André Dumas (1800–1884) was born in Alais, in southern France, where he received a classical education before being apprenticed to an apothecary at age 15 [9, 10]. In 1816, he moved to Geneva and entered the pharmaceutical laboratory of Le Royer [9]. He also studied chemistry and attracted the attention of Charles Gaspard de la Rive (1770–1834), who was professor of chemistry at Geneva [9, 10]. During this time, he also met Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), who encouraged him to go to Paris to complete his studies. As a result, he became a lecture assistant of Louis Thenard (1777–1857) at the École Polytechnique in 1823 [9, 10]. In 1829, he became one of the founders of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, while also teaching at the École Polytechnique, succeeding Thenard as professor in 1835. He became a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1832 and succeeded Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850) at the Sorbonne as assistant professor, becoming professor in 1841 [9]. Dumas was the first chemist in France to give practical laboratory instruction to students and was considered the most outstanding French chemist of his time [9, 10].
- 3.
Eugène Melchior Peligot (1811–1890) was an assayer in the Paris Mint, before becoming professor of applied chemistry in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. Besides various collaborations in organic chemistry with Dumas, he discovered potassium chlorochromate (Peligot's salt) and was the first to prepare metallic uranium [11].
- 4.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) was born in a small Swedish town in East Gothland. Both of his parents died when he was young and he was raised by his stepfather Anders Ekmarck. In 1796 he left school after which he entered the University of Uppsala as a medical student. He was forced to leave due to lack of means and became a private tutor. In 1798, however, he won a small scholarship and reentered the University, finally graduating with a dissertation on mineral water [12]. He completed his M.D. in 1802 with a thesis on the medical applications of galvanism and was appointed reader in chemistry at the Carlberg Military Academy in 1806. The following year he was appointed professor of medicine and pharmacy in the School of Surgery in Stockholm, where he had a modest laboratory and funding for apparatus and materials [12]. In 1808 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences and became a joint secretary in 1818 [12]. He resigned his professorship in 1832, but continued to be active in chemical discussions until his death in 1848 [12].
- 5.
It should be noted that some forms of kohl were comprised of lead sulfide (PbS) [17].
- 6.
Paracelsus (1493–1541) was a noted alchemist and medical practitioner whose real name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim [21]. Bombastus referred to the Bombast family of his paternal grandfather and the von Hohenheim did not signify nobility, but the town Hohenheim from which his father came. The nickname Paracelsus was probably given to him by others and adopted by himself because he claimed to be superior to, beyond, or “para” to Celsus, the celebrated 1st century Roman physician [22, 23]. While he learned some medicine and alchemy from his father, it is thought that he entered the University of Basel sometime between 1506 and 1512, but abandoned his studies in 1514 to work in the mines of Tyrol [21, 24]. He studied medicine at Ferrara and claimed to have obtained a M.D. there, but it is debatable whether he actually earned any kind of a medical degree [24]. Never the less, he referred to himself as a doctor of medicine and began practicing medicine with new medicines developed via alchemical methods. In 1526, he was appointed professor of medicine at Basel [23], but his unorthodox methods and outspoken nature ultimately resulted in significant enemies, which forced him to leave his position barely two years later. He spent the last years of his life wandering Germany and Austria, finally dying in 1541 at the age of 48 [21, 25].
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Rasmussen, S.C. (2014). Introduction. In: The Quest for Aqua Vitae. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06302-7_1
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