Felix Hoffmann
Fuente:Quimica facil.net
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Felix
Hoffmann (21 January 1868 – 8 February 1946) was a German chemist notable for
re-synthesising diamorphine (independently from C.R. Alder Wright who
synthesized it 23 years earlier), which was popularized under the Bayer trade
name of "heroin". He is also credited with synthesizing aspirin,
though whether he did this under his own initiative or under the instruction of
Arthur Eichengrün is contested.
Career
Felix
Hoffmann was born on 21 January 1868 in Ludwigsburg, Germany, the son of an
industrialist. In 1889, he started studying chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich to study pharmacy and ended it in 1890 with the
pharmaceutical state exam. In 1891 he graduated magna cum laude from the
University of Munich. Two years later he earned his doctorate, also magna cum
laude, after completing his thesis titled "On certain derivatives of
dihydroanthracene".[1] In 1894, he joined Bayer as a research chemist.
Here's a lovely story :Here's a lovely story that some of you may know.
A chemist named Felix Hoffmann witnessed his poor, arthritic father's stomach ache every day due to the medication prescribed to alleviate his illness, salicylic acid. Since he worked for the pharmaceutical company Bayer, he decided to take advantage of his position as an employee in the sector to try to put an end to this painful family situation.
A chemist named Felix Hoffmann witnessed his poor, arthritic father's stomach ache every day due to the medication prescribed to alleviate his illness, salicylic acid. Since he worked for the pharmaceutical company Bayer, he decided to take advantage of his position as an employee in the sector to try to put an end to this painful family situation.
On 10
August 1897 Hoffmann synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) while working at
Bayer under Arthur Eichengrün. By combining salicylic acid with acetic acid, he
succeeded in creating ASA in a chemically pure and stable form. The
pharmacologist responsible for verifying these results was skeptical at first,
yet once several large-scale studies to investigate the substance's efficacy
and tolerability had been completed, it was found to be an analgesic,
antipyretic and anti-inflammatory substance. The company then worked to develop
a cost-effective production process that would facilitate the promising active
ingredient to be supplied as a pharmaceutical product. In 1899 it was marketed
for the first time under the trade name "Aspirin", initially as a
powder supplied in glass bottles.[2]
He also
synthesized diamorphine (heroin), previously achieved by Charles Romley Alder
Wright[2] by acetylating different molecules. It was named Heroin due to its
"heroic" nature since it was used to medicate a variety of medical
illnesses from child coughs to war injuries. It was also used to cure morphine
addicts and would result in worse addictions and increasing tolerance levels to
the drug over time.[3]
Following
the synthesis of aspirin and heroin, Hoffmann moved to the pharmaceutical
marketing department where he stayed until his retirement in 1928.[1]
Hoffman
was never married and died on 8 February 1946 in Switzerland. He had no known
children.
Aspirin
invention controversy
Hoffmann
first claimed to be the "inventor" of aspirin (as opposed to just the
synthesizer) in a footnote to a German encyclopedia published in 1934, saying
that his father had complained about the bitter taste of sodium salicylate, the
only drug then available to treat rheumatism. The large doses (6–8 grams) of
sodium salicylate that were used to treat arthritis commonly irritated the
stomach lining and caused patients considerable pain and irritation. He claimed
that he began looking for a less acidic formation which led him to synthesize
acetylsalicylic acid, a compound that shared the therapeutic properties of
other salicylates but not the strong acidity that he believed caused stomach
irritations.[4][2]
An
alternative credit for developing aspirin has also been offered. In 1949,
ex-Bayer employee Arthur Eichengrün published a paper in Pharmazie, in which he
claimed to have planned and directed Hoffman's synthesis of aspirin along with
the synthesis of several related compounds. He also claimed to be responsible
for aspirin's initial surreptitious clinical testing. Finally, he claimed that Hoffmann's
role was restricted to the initial lab synthesis using his (Eichengrün's)
process and nothing more.[5] Eichengrün died the same month he published in
Pharmazie.
The
Eichengrün version was ignored by historians and chemists until 1999, when Walter
Sneader of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of
Strathclyde in Glasgow re-examined the case and came to the conclusion that
indeed Eichengrün's account was convincing and correct and that Eichengrün
deserved credit for the invention of aspirin.[6] Bayer denied this in a press
release, asserting that the invention of aspirin was due to Hoffmann.[7]
Legacy
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In 2002,
he was inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame.
With
affection,
Ruben
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