His combination of malonic acid and urea in a condensation reaction led to his discovery of barbituric acid, and seven years after that breakthrough, he discovered phenolphthalein.
His combination of malonic acid and urea in a condensation reaction led to his discovery of barbituric acid, and seven years after that breakthrough, he discovered phenolphthalein. This scientist's investigations into the explosive tendencies of polyacetylenes led him to theorize that tetra-, penta-, and hexamethylene rings were especially stable due to their favorable bond angles, a hypothesis that came to be known as his namesake strain theory. He is the first namesake of a reaction that passes inserts oxygen atoms into n-membered rings, turning them into n+1-membered lactones, which produces (*) carboxylic acids from aldehydes and esters from ketones. His discovery of the formula for indoles and his research into phthalein dyes led to his most famous discovery. For 10 points, identify this winner of the 1905 Nobel in Chemistry, a German chemist who lends his name to an oxidation with Victor Villiger and who performed the first synthesis of indigo.
His combination of malonic acid and urea in a condensation reaction led to his discovery of barbituric acid, and seven years after that breakthrough, he discovered phenolphthalein.
Adolf von Baeyer [or Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer]