First Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff

First Chemistry Nobel Prize: Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Nobel Prize in Chemistry On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and bequeathed the largest share of his fortune to a series of awards in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, known as the Nobel Prizes. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (the central bank of Sweden) established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Between 1901 and 2022, the Nobel Prizes in Memory of Alfred Nobel and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 615 times to 989 individuals and organisations. Each prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma and a cash award. Chemistry was the most important scientific field for Alfred Nobel's own work. The development of his inventions and the industrial processes he used were based on chemical knowledge. After physics, chemistry was the second award category mentioned in Nobel's will. In this article series, we will provide information about Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry and their work. The First Prize Was Awarded to Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff In 1901, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Jr. was deemed worthy of the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the extraordinary services rendered by him through the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions." Born in the Netherlands in 1852, van 't Hoff died in 1911. From 1878 to 1896, van 't Hoff was Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology at the University of Amsterdam. A highly influential theoretical chemist of his time, van 't Hoff contributed to the establishment of the theory of modern chemical affinity, chemical equilibrium, chemical kinetics and chemical thermodynamics. Van 't Hoff formulated the tetrahedral carbon atom theory and laid the foundations of stereochemistry. He predicted the correct structures of allenes and cumulenes, as well as their axial chirality. He is also recognised as one of the founders of the discipline now known as physical chemistry. Even before obtaining his doctorate, van 't Hoff published his groundbreaking ideas on stereochemistry in a small booklet. The booklet contained only 13 pages, but over time it would have a profound impact on chemical thought and would accelerate the development of stereochemistry. The concept of the "asymmetric carbon atom" provided an explanation for the formation of numerous isomers that could not be explained by the structural formulas then in use. Additionally, van 't Hoff drew attention to the relationship between the optical activity of a compound and the presence of an asymmetric carbon atom in its molecular structure. Van 't Hoff's first Amsterdam laboratory was located at Groenburgwal 44 in the historic city centre. Here he conducted research for his book Études de Dynamique chimique (Studies in Chemical Dynamics), published in 1884. The book contained his first discoveries in the field of physical chemistry. Van 't Hoff's development of the general thermodynamic relationship between heat of transformation and the displacement of equilibrium as a consequence of temperature change was of great importance. In 1885, this principle of dynamic equilibrium was put into a more general form by Le Chatelier, thus its present status is established as the van 't Hoff-Le Chatelier principle. In 1885, van 't Hoff published L'Équilibre chimique dans les Systèmes gazeux ou dissous à I'État dilué, which addressed the theory of dilute solutions—the title can be translated as chemical equilibrium in gaseous systems or in highly dilute solutions. Here van 't Hoff demonstrated that in solutions sufficiently dilute, "osmotic pressure" is proportional to concentration and absolute temperature. He proposed that this pressure could be represented by a formula that deviates from the gas pressure formula only by the factor i, and determined the value of i by various methods. Thus van 't Hoff was able to prove that the laws of thermodynamics were valid not only for gases, but also for dilute solutions. Compilation and translation: B. Serhat Cengiz

Sources

• Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1966. Online available at Nobelprize.org. • Wie was Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff? Biography published at the website of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. • Van't Hoff's Molecular Paper Models at dataphys.org. • Rijksmuseum Boerhaave • https://hims.uva.nl/about-hims/who-was-van-t-hoff/jacobus-henricus-van-t-hoff.html?cb • https://www.nobelprize.org/