Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz facts for kids

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz (born September 7, 1829 – died July 13, 1896) was an important German organic chemist. He is best known for his work on understanding how carbon atoms connect in organic compounds. His most famous idea was the ring shape of the benzene molecule. This discovery was a big step forward in chemistry.

Early Life and Studies

August Kekulé was born in Darmstadt, Germany. His father worked for the government. In 1847, August started studying at the University of Giessen. He first planned to become an architect. However, after listening to lectures by the famous chemist Justus von Liebig, he decided to study chemistry instead.

After his studies in Giessen, Kekulé continued his education. He received fellowships to study in Paris (1851-1852), in Chur, Switzerland (1852-1853), and in London (1853-1855). In London, he learned a lot from another important chemist, Alexander Williamson.

A Career in Chemistry

In 1858, Kekulé became a full professor at the University of Ghent. Later, in 1867, he was invited to work at the University of Bonn. There, he focused his studies on carbon organic compounds. His most famous work was figuring out the structure of benzene.

Solving the Benzene Puzzle

For a long time, chemists knew the basic formula for benzene, but they couldn't figure out its exact shape. Benzene was known to be "unsaturated," meaning it had fewer hydrogen atoms than it could hold. This made its structure very tricky to determine.

In 1865, Kekulé published a paper in French where he suggested that benzene had a special structure. He proposed that it was a six-membered ring of carbon atoms. These carbon atoms were connected by alternating single and double bonds. The next year, he published a much longer paper in German explaining his idea in more detail.

Before Kekulé, other chemists like Archibald Scott Couper and Joseph Loschmidt had suggested possible structures for benzene. However, the study of aromatic compounds was very new back then. There wasn't enough evidence to help chemists decide which structure was correct. Kekulé's idea of the benzene ring was a major breakthrough that helped chemists understand many other compounds.

Images for kids

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  Kekulé's drawing of the benzene structure, showing alternating double bonds.

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  A 1964 West German stamp celebrating the discovery of the molecular formula of benzene.

See also

In Spanish: August Kekulé para niños