Ferdinand Bohlmann ( 27 August 1921 - 23 September 1991) was a German chemist, known for his studies of plant

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

s chemistry, especially

terpenoid The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic compound, organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeabl ...

s and

polyyne A polyyne is any organic compound with alternating Single bond, single and triple bonds; that is, a series of consecutive alkynes, with ''n'' greater than 1. These compounds are also called polyacetylenes, especially in the natural products and ...

Life

Bohlmann studied chemistry in Göttingen from 1939 to 1944 . His studies were interrupted by military service and injury. In 1946 he received his doctorate under Hans Brockmann (1903–1988) on

chromatography In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the Separation process, separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it ...

pyridine Pyridine is a basic (chemistry), basic heterocyclic compound, heterocyclic organic compound with the chemical formula . It is structurally related to benzene, with one methine group replaced by a nitrogen atom . It is a highly flammable, weak ...

compounds.Winterfeldt, E. 1994. Ferdinand Bohlmann (1921–1991) und sein wissenschaftliches Werk. Liebigs Annalen der Chemie 1994:I–XXXIV. He then worked under Hans Herloff Inhoffen at the University of Marburg. Bohlmann followed Inhoffen to the TH Braunschweig and completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

there. Bohlmann became a lecturer in 1952 and an adjunct professor in 1957. In 1959 he succeeded Friedrich Weygand at the TU Berlin (1911–1969) at the Institute for Organic Chemistry, where he led a rapidly expanding working group. His most famous academic student is

Helmut Schwarz Helmut Schwarz (born 6 August 1943) is a German organic chemist. He has been a professor of chemistry at the Technische Universität Berlin since 1978. In 2018, he was elected a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Career ...

. Bohlmann died on 23 September 1991.Harborne, J. n.d. Ferdinand Bohlmann 1921–1991. Phytochemistry.

Work

Bohlmann's main area of work was natural products chemistry, especially terpenes and polyynes. These were mainly isolated from plants of the

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

family, (formerly Compositae), and their structure was elucidated. Bohlmann also worked on the characterization of

quinolizidine Quinolizidine (norlupinane, octahydro-2''H''-quinolizine) is a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound. Some alkaloids (e.g. cytisine and sparteine) are derivatives of quinolizidine. Quinolizidine alkaloids Quinolizidine alkaloids, such as ...

alkaloids. Bohlmann's list of publications includes around 1300 publications. His collaboration with the biodiversity informatics working group at the

Berlin Botanical Garden The Berlin Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum () is a botanical garden in the locality of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. Constructed between 1897 and 1910 under the guidance of architect Adolf Engler, it has an area of and over 20,000 di ...

resulted in a system with which the chemical substances of the Compositae were made accessible in a database, the "Bohlmann Files". The Bohlmann-Rahtz pyridine synthesis is named after Bohlmann and Dieter Rahtz.

Honors

In 1954, he received the lecturer prize of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. In 1958 he was awarded the Göttingen Academy Prize. The Bohlmann Lecture series was established in his honor in 1989 at the Institute for Chemistry at the TU Berlin. From 2004 to 2018 this event was funded by the Schering Foundation. Since 2019 the event has been carried out in cooperation with Bayer AG.

Bibliography

* Bohlmann, F., Burkhardt, T., & Zdero, C. (1973). Naturally Occurring Acetylenes. Academic Press. * Seaman, F., Bohlmann, F., Zdero, C., & Mabry, T. J. (2012). Diterpenes of Flowering Plants: Compositae (Asteraceae). Springer Science & Business Media.

References

External links

Biografie in der Festschrift ''125 Jahre Technische Universität Berlin''
auf opus.kobv.de
Auflistung der wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungen Ferdinand Bohlmanns
auf bohlmann-ban.de (PDF-Datei; 196 kB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bohlmann, Ferdinand 1921 births 1991 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) 20th-century German chemists Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin