George Wittig German organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry (1979, together with G. C. Brown). Date of Birth: 16.06.1897 Country: Germany

1. Biography of Georg Wittig
2. Development of the Wittig Reaction
3. Contributions and Recognition
4. Personal Life and Legacy

Biography of Georg Wittig

German organic chemist, Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1979, jointly with G.C. Brown).

Georg Friedrich Karl Wittig was born in Berlin, Germany, into a family of Gustav Wittig, a professor of fine arts at the University of Berlin, and Marta (Dombrowski) Wittig. After graduating from Wilhelm Gymnasium in Kassel, he enrolled at the University of Tübingen in 1916 but had to interrupt his studies due to being called up for military service during World War I. In 1920, Wittig became a student at the University of Marburg, where he studied chemistry under Karl von Auwers. He earned his doctorate in 1923 and conducted research and teaching at the University of Marburg for several years, serving as an assistant and lecturer. In 1932, he was appointed adjunct professor at the Technical University of Brunswick. Five years later, he moved to the University of Freiburg as an associate professor. In 1944, he became a full professor and assumed the position of director of the Chemical Institute at the University of Tübingen. Finally, after 12 years, he transferred to the University of Heidelberg, where he became an honorary professor in retirement in 1967.

Development of the Wittig Reaction

At the beginning of his scientific career, Wittig became interested in the precise mechanisms of certain reactions, particularly those involving free radicals and carbanions (negatively charged carbon atoms in organic molecules) as intermediate reaction products, as well as specific types of molecular rearrangements. His work in these areas earned him a reputation as an organic chemist with a rich creative imagination and skilled experimenter.

In the 1940s, Wittig set out to create molecules in which five organic groups were covalently bonded to elements of Group V in the periodic table, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and arsenic. While the creation of such molecules was theoretically possible, no one had yet synthesized them. Ultimately, Wittig and his colleagues achieved this goal, except for the synthesis of nitrogen. During their investigations, the scientists encountered compounds of interest known as ylides. In ylides, a quaternary salt of a Group V element (containing four organic groups and an attached halogen) loses a proton from one organic group instead of acquiring a fifth organic group. In 1953, Wittig discovered that such ylides readily react with carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones, molecules containing a carbon-oxygen double bond). In this process, the carbonyl oxygen atom is exchanged with the carbanion of the ylide (carbon without a proton). As a result, an olefin with a new carbon-carbon double bond is formed instead of the carbonyl group. This accidental discovery, now known as the Wittig reaction, had far greater scientific potential than the successful solution to the original problem.

Contributions and Recognition

Wittig's success with the reaction was greatly enhanced by further research conducted by him and his group in Tübingen and Heidelberg. In the early 1960s, numerous articles appeared on the specific application of the Wittig reaction, and by the mid-1980s, there were thousands of publications on the topic. The reaction also found extensive use in various technical fields.

In 1979, Wittig and Herbert C. Brown were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their development of the use of boron- and phosphorus-containing compounds as reagents in organic synthesis." In his introductory speech on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Bengt Lindberg stated, "Georg Wittig has contributed greatly to the development of organic chemistry... Wittig's elegant method found wide application, for example, in the industrial synthesis of vitamin A."

The Wittig reaction is invaluable in the manufacture of complex pharmaceutical preparations, such as synthetic vitamin A, derivatives of vitamin D, steroids, and the precursor of prostaglandins. It is also used in the synthesis of pheromones for combating agricultural pests.

Personal Life and Legacy

In 1930, Wittig married Waltraut Ernst, and they had two daughters together. His wife passed away in 1978. Wittig enjoyed mountaineering with his friend Karl Ziegler and led an active lifestyle. His students described him as a talented musician. Wittig had musical abilities from childhood and could have easily pursued a career in music, but chemistry was his all-consuming passion. Even after retiring, he continued to work as a research advisor to some groups of graduates and published his own works. Wittig passed away in Heidelberg at the age of 90.

Wittig was a highly respected scientist, and his work gained wide international recognition. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he received several other awards, including the Adolf von Baeyer Medal (1953) and the Otto Hahn Prize (1967) from the German Chemical Society, the Paul Karrer Medal for achievements in chemistry from the University of Zurich (1972), and the Roger Adams Award from the American Chemical Society (1975). He was also granted honorary degrees from the University of Paris, the University of Tübingen, and the University of Hamburg.