By Ryder Davis

Kurt Alder was born July 10 th 1902 in what is now Poland. He spent his childhood in Upper Silesia, but was forced to leave his home after world war 1. His father, Joseph Alder, was a schoolteacher in the nearby town of Kattowitz. His parents died during world war 2 because they were Jewish. In 1922 he studied chemistry at Berlin University, and later he went to Kiel and continued his studies and later got his degree of Ph.D In In 1940 Alder was appointed to the chair for experimental Chemistry and chemical Technology at Cologne University. He also received 2 invitations from 2 different Universities but declined both of them.

Kurt Alder was an Organic Chemist. Organic Chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with carbon: originally confined to compounds produced by living organisms but now extended to include man-made substances based on carbon, such as plastics. Before the nineteenth century, chemists believed that compounds were obtained from living organisms were endowed with a vital force that distinguished them from inorganic compounds. According to the concept of vitalism (vital force theory), organic matter was endowed with a “vital force”. During the first half of the nineteenth century, some of the first systematic Studies of organic compounds where reported.

Kurt Alder and Otto Paul Hermann Diels were awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1950 for his discovery of diene synthesis (kurt alder was 48 when he won the award.)

 Nobel Peace Prize (chemistry)  Emil Fischer Memorial Medal

Kurt Alder was famous for the discovery of a chemical reaction named Diels-alder reaction. (info on slide 8)

 Diels-Alder reaction  The Alder-Ene reaction

Kurt Alder discovered many things. And one of them was the Diels-Alder reaction, a type of chemical reaction in which one organic compound containing conjugated (Joined) double bonds adds to another containing an ethylene (a flammable gas) bond to form a product containing a ring.

In 1943 Kurt Alder discovered the Alder-ene reaction. The Alder ene is a chemical reaction between Alkene and allylic hydrogen a compound with a multiple bond (the enophile),a technique widely exploited in chemical synthesis.

There is a crater on the moon named after Kurt Alder (the Alder crater). The Alder crater is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the moon.

Kurt Alder died June 20, 1958 Cologne, Germany Age 55