Kurt Alder

Kurt Alder (1902–1958) was a German chemist who shared the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Otto Diels for discovering and developing the Diels–Alder reaction.

Otto Diels: Otto Diels was a German chemist who shared the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kurt Alder. Diels collaborated with Alder on the reaction that earned them the Nobel Prize.
Diels–Alder reaction: The Diels–Alder reaction is a cycloaddition that joins a conjugated diene and a dienophile to form a six-membered ring. This named reaction is the central discovery associated with Alder’s career.
Woodward–Hoffmann rules: The Woodward–Hoffmann rules predict whether pericyclic reactions are allowed by orbital-symmetry conservation. They explain the orbital-symmetry basis of the reaction’s thermal course.
Total synthesis: Total synthesis is the chemical construction of a complex natural product from simpler starting materials. Chemists use the reaction to assemble rings efficiently in complex molecule construction.
Hermann Staudinger: Hermann Staudinger was a German chemist who established the macromolecular theory of polymers. Alder completed his doctorate under Staudinger at the University of Kiel.
Conjugated diene: A conjugated diene is a molecule with two carbon–carbon double bonds separated by one single bond. A conjugated diene supplies four of the six atoms in the reaction’s new ring.
Frontier molecular orbital theory: Frontier molecular orbital theory explains reactions through interactions between the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. It describes how diene and dienophile orbitals cooperate as bonds form.
Polycyclic compound: A polycyclic compound contains two or more rings connected through shared atoms or bonds. The reaction can build fused and bridged ring frameworks found in polycyclic molecules.
Richard Willstätter: Richard Willstätter was a German chemist who received the 1915 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research on plant pigments. Alder worked in Willstätter’s laboratory before joining the University of Kiel.
Dienophile: A dienophile is an alkene or alkyne that acts as the two-atom partner in a cycloaddition. Its double or triple bond combines with the diene during the reaction.

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