Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (1794–1867) was a German chemist who isolated substances including aniline and caffeine and investigated coal tar dyes.
Aniline: Aniline is an aromatic amine used as a chemical feedstock, especially in dye and pharmaceutical production. Runge isolated aniline from coal tar, an early demonstration that it contained useful organic compounds.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, statesman, and naturalist. Goethe reportedly encouraged Runge to examine coffee beans, leading to his isolation of caffeine.
Coal gas: Coal gas is a fuel mixture made by heating coal in the absence of air. Coal-gas production generated coal tar, the complex residue Runge studied.
Coal-tar chemistry: Coal-tar chemistry studies and uses the compounds produced during coal carbonization. Runge’s isolations helped establish coal tar as a source of chemically valuable substances.
Caffeine: Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant alkaloid found in coffee, tea, and several other plants. Runge isolated caffeine from coffee beans after Goethe prompted him to investigate them.
Friedrich Wöhler: Friedrich Wöhler was a German chemist whose synthesis of urea helped transform organic chemistry. Wöhler and Runge were contemporaries whose work helped establish experimental organic chemistry.
Organic chemistry: Organic chemistry studies carbon-containing compounds, including their structures, properties, and reactions. Runge’s extraction and identification work belongs to the early development of organic chemistry.
Mauveine: Mauveine is a group of purple aniline dyes discovered by William Henry Perkin in 1856. Its discovery converted the coal-tar compounds Runge studied into the basis of a dye industry.
Coal tar: Coal tar is a thick mixture of chemicals produced when coal is heated without oxygen. It was the raw material from which Runge extracted several organic substances.
August Wilhelm von Hofmann: August Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist who investigated aniline and its derivatives. Hofmann later developed systematic research on aniline, a compound Runge had isolated decades earlier.