Anton Köllisch (16 March 1888 – September 1916) was a German chemist who, whilst working at Darmstadt for pharmaceutical giant Merck, first described the synthesis of the chemical MDMA.[1]
Life and work
editIn 1911, Köllisch published his doctoral dissertation on the topic of indole synthesis from hydrazones under Otto Diels at the University of Berlin.[2][3]
While at Merck, Dr Köllisch was involved in investigating syntheses for methylhydrastinine and hydrastinine. A procedural patent was filed on Christmas Eve 1912 relating to these syntheses, which mentioned MDMA without name as a chemical intermediate.[1]
He was killed in the First World War.
References
edit- ^ a b Freudenmann, Roland W.; Oxler, Florian; Bernschneider-Reif, Sabine (2006-09-01). "The origin of MDMA (ecstasy) revisited: the true story reconstructed from the original documents". Addiction. 101 (9): 1241–1245. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01511.x. ISSN 0965-2140. PMID 16911722.
- ^ Köllisch: Zur Kenntnis des Diacetyls. I. Über die Brauchbarkeit der Diacetylphenylhydrazone für Kondensationen. II. Über Versuche zur Ueberführung des Diacetyls in eine Ketotetrose, Inaugural-Dissertation, Berlin: E. Ebering 1911 Hochspringen↑
- ^ Diels, Otto; Köllisch, Anton (1911-01-01). "Zur Kenntnis des Diacetyls: Über die Diacetyl-monophenylhydrazone und ihre Verwendbarkeit für Kondensationen". Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. 44 (1): 263–268. doi:10.1002/cber.19110440140. ISSN 1099-0682.
Bibliography
edit- Germany, Kaiserliches Patentamt, Patentschrift Nr 274350, http://mdma.net/merck/mdma-patent1.html
- Benzenhöfer, U; Passie, T (January 2006). "The early history of Ecstasy". Nervenarzt. 77 (1): 95–6, 98–9. doi:10.1007/s00115-005-2001-y. PMID 16397805.
- Adam, David. Truth about ecstasy's unlikely trip from lab to dance floor: Pharmaceutical company unravels drug's chequered past, Guardian Unlimited, 2006-08-18.
- Freudenmann, R. W.; et al. (September 2006). "The origin of MDMA (ecstasy) revisited: the true story reconstructed from the original documents" (PDF). Addiction. 101 (9): 1241–1245. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01511.x. PMID 16911722.