The importance of chemical bonds

This week I read an article about the possibility to make polymers from old bread. I like the idea to use any waste for anything useful. And since the bakery waste is quite significant this research seems to be meaningful to me.

It focusses to produce Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and I – so far – had never heard from this chemical. So, I did my research, what it is and who was the first one to identify. My research lead me to Bernhard Tollens into the year 1874, where he published as Co-Author, how HMF is formed.

We sometimes form personal working relationships with some people, which we know that they are special. We can’t put our fingers down but it just is different and more rewarding than others. We call it “great chemistry”.

The same was with Bernhard. In 1861 he started to study Chemistry in G?ttingen and his professor was Friedrich W?hler and between these two men was chemistry indeed. 

At the end of his studies Bernhard wanted to start a very good paid job in the industry, but the timing was such that he had to miss his PhD defense if he wanted to get it since the new job was in the south of Germany and had to be started without delays.

Friedrich appreciated Bernhard so much that he made it possible to grant the PhD without the defense (which was possible at the time in exceptional cases). This was nothing Friedrich did for all of his students, though.

After a short time working for in industrial companies, Bernhard realized that this was not, what he wanted to do all his life. He was a researcher and teacher to the core. He first went to France and then to Portugal to research and teach Chemistry himself.

There he used the exercises from the G?ttingen lab and translated them into French with the title “Premiers exercises d’ Analyse chimique par W?hler”. When W?hler learned that he contributed this to him, he was really flattered and wrote him a letter, saying in part:

I hope you don't get homesick in the meantime. But should you prefer an assistant position in Germany, at the moment I can offer you the position of a third assistant in the chemical department of the local laboratory.

It wasn’t a well paid position Friedrich could offer (actually the job in Portugal was paid a lot better), but due to their special relationship, Bernhard didn’t think twice and went back to G?ttingen.

This was, what he was really looking for: While Bernhard had 5 different jobs in the time between 1964 and 1971, he stayed at the G?ttingen University for the rest of his life. Bernhard made quite an academic career there. His field of expertise became carbohydrates and became the director  of the Agricultural Chemical Laboratory at the Agricultural Institute. Still today books in this field of research are printed with his name on it. His most known achievement is the “Tollens probe”, which can be used for the detection of sugar.

This story started with stale bread and an unknown chemical substance, but ends with an exceptional working relationship. Both men invested trust and appreciation, from that not only Bernhard and Friedrich profited but all around him as well. If in the end the Fraunhofer WKI find a good way to produce polymers from bread, even this invention’s foundation will be that special personal bond.