Carl Neuberg

Carl Neuberg
Born 29 July 1877
Hanover, Germany
Died 30 May 1956 (aged 78)
New York, United States
Fields Biochemistry
Alma mater University of Berlin

Carl Alexander Neuberg (1877–1956) was an early pioneer in biochemistry, and often referred to as the "Father of Biochemistry".

Professional Life

He was the first editor of the journal Biochemische Zeitschrift.[1] This journal was founded in 1906 and is now known as the FEBS Journal.[2] In his early work in Germany, he worked on solubility and transport in cells, the chemistry of carbohydrates, photochemistry, as well as investigating and classifying different types of fermentation. He was also a pioneer in the study of the chemistry of amino acids and enzymes.

Neuberg was head of the biochemistry section of one of the first Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes (that of August von Wasserman). In the 1910s, after announcing the discovery of an enzyme he called "carboxylase" (which catalyzed the decarboxylation of pyruvic acid), he developed a theory of the alcoholic fermentation of glucose. Support for his theory was bolstered when he helped develop an industrial process that contributed materially to the German war effort in World War I, manufacturing glycerol—for the production of explosives—by the fermentation of sugar.[3]

Neuberg made a particularly important discovery in 1916: hydrotropy, a solubilization process where the addition of large amounts of a second solute causes an increase in the aqueous solubility of a different solute.[4]

Due to his Jewish origin, Neuberg was forced by the Nazis to end his work at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biochemistry in 1936 and leave Germany in 1937. He moved to the United States, where he continued to work on enzymes and cell transport processes. Successor for the position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biochemistry became Adolf Butenandt.

On 5 Nov 1947, he received a medal from the American Society of European Chemists and Pharmacists.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gottschalk A (1956). "Prof. Carl Neuberg". Nature 178 (4536): 722–3. Bibcode:1956Natur.178..722G. doi:10.1038/178722a0. PMID 13369516.
  2. ↑ Introducing the FEBS Journal for 2005 Accessed 6 April 2007
  3. ↑ Fruton, Joseph S. Proteins, Enzymes, Genes: The Interplay of Chemistry and Biology. Yale University Press: New Haven, 1999. pp. 44, 292-294
  4. ↑ Coffman R, Kildsig D (1996). "Effect of nicotinamide and urea on the solubility of riboflavin in various solvents". J Pharm Sci 85 (9): 951–4. doi:10.1021/js960012b. PMID 8877885.

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