The Michael Heidelberger Papers

Title:

Letter from Charles D. Hurd, Northwestern University to Michael Heidelberger

Description:

Heidelberger had helped to synthesize cyclooctatetraene, the next higher analog of benzene (consisting of a ring with eight carbon atoms and four double bonds) during a year of postdoctoral study (1911-12) in the laboratory of the 1915 Nobel Laureate, Richard Willstatter, at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. His research with Willstatter on cyclooctatetraene was controversial, and was questioned as late as the 1940s by Hugh S. Taylor and Charles D. Hurd. Heidelberger, however, strongly defended his results, as documented in this letter, pointing out that while Taylor and Hurd showed that cyclooctatetraene resinifies and degrades at high temperatures, he had worked in cold temperatures continuously for 24 hours to synthesize a colorless liquid that was both stable and reactive. Heidelberger and Willstatter's results stood, and as a consequence of their work cyclooctatetraene became a widely used intermediate in organic chemistry.

Number of Image Pages:

2 (182,231 Bytes)

Date:

1939-11-29 (November 29, 1939)

Creator:

Hurd, Charles D.

Northwestern University

Recipient:

Heidelberger, Michael

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of Northwestern University.

Subject:

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH):: Chemistry, Organic

Exhibit Category:

The Making of an Immunologist: Heidelberger's Years at the Rockefeller Institute, 1912-1927

Relation:

Letter from Michael Heidelberger to Hugh S. Taylor, Princeton University (September 9, 1939)

Letter from Hugh S. Taylor, Princeton University to Michael Heidelberger (November 4, 1939)

Letter from Michael Heidelberger to Hugh S. Taylor, Princeton University (November 7, 1939)

Letter from Michael Heidelberger to Charles D. Hurd, Northwestern University (November 8, 1939)

Letter from Richard Willstatter to Michael Heidelberger (March 27, 1940)

Box Number: 1

Folder Number: 1

Unique Identifier:

DHBBMH

Document Type:

Letters (correspondence)

Language:

English

Format:

application/pdf

image/tif

Physical Condition:

Good

Folder: MS C 245 (first finding aid)

Metadata Last Modified Date:

2008-01-23

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