Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff (1852 - 1911) was a Dutch physical and organic chemist regarded as one of the founders of physical chemistry and modern stereochemistry. In 1874 he proposed that the four bonds of the carbon atom point toward the corners of a tetrahedron, an idea that explained the three-dimensional structure of molecules and the phenomenon of optical activity.[1] For his later work on the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions, he received the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901.[2]
Early life and education
Van 't Hoff was born in Rotterdam on 30 August 1852, the son of a physician. Drawn to chemistry from an early age, he studied at the Delft University of Technology and Leiden University before continuing his training abroad under August Kekulé at the University of Bonn and Charles-Adolphe Wurtz in Paris. He received his doctorate from Utrecht University in 1874.[1]
The tetrahedral carbon atom
While still a young man, van 't Hoff published a short pamphlet in 1874 proposing that a carbon atom bonded to four different groups is arranged asymmetrically in space, with its bonds directed toward the vertices of a tetrahedron. The French chemist Joseph Le Bel reached a similar conclusion independently in the same year. The theory accounted for the optical activity of certain compounds and laid the foundation of stereochemistry, the study of the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules.[3] Though initially met with sharp criticism from some established chemists, it was gradually accepted as its explanatory power became clear.
Physical chemistry and later career
In 1878 van 't Hoff became professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology at the University of Amsterdam. His book Études de dynamique chimique (1884) helped establish chemical kinetics and thermodynamics as quantitative sciences; the relationship now known as the van 't Hoff equation describes how an equilibrium constant changes with temperature.[2] He also showed that dilute solutions obey laws analogous to those of gases, providing a theoretical basis for measuring osmotic pressure. In 1887 he co-founded the influential journal Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie with Wilhelm Ostwald.
Nobel Prize and legacy
In 1896 van 't Hoff moved to Berlin, becoming associated with the Prussian Academy of Sciences, where he turned to the study of oceanic salt deposits. He had received the Davy Medal in 1893, and in 1901 he was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The prize was granted
He was also elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and received the Prussian order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts. Van 't Hoff died in Steglitz, near Berlin, on 1 March 1911. He is remembered as one of the principal founders of physical chemistry, and both the van 't Hoff factor and the van 't Hoff equation continue to bear his name.
