Happy 194th Birthday August Kekule!
Happy 194th Birthday August Kekulé!
August Kekulé, born 7 September 1829, was a German chemist who made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry.
His structural theory of organic composition proposed that atoms of carbon can form bonds with each other to create chains and rings.
Kekulé's first proposed structure for benzene was a hexagon with alternating single and double bonds, which is still widely used today although it is now known that the bonds in benzene are delocalized.
He also discovered that carbon has a valence of four, meaning that it can form four bonds with other atoms.
Kekulé also developed the concept of aromaticity, which describes the stability of certain organic compounds that contain rings of carbon atoms.
He also worked on unsaturated compounds that contain double or triple bonds, and developed methods for synthesizing them.
Kekule's work had a profound impact on the development of organic chemistry, and his discoveries are still used by chemists today.