Photo credit: Nobel Foundation, 1939 — Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Leopold Ružička
1887–1976 · Switzerland, Croatia · Born in the 1800s
Nobel Chemistry 1939
Croatian-born Swiss chemist who formulated the isoprene rule and first synthesized musk ketones and androsterone, founding the chemistry of terpenes and steroids.
Nobel Prize work
Prized for his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes. He showed how to build large carbon rings, established that terpenes are assembled from isoprene units (the isoprene rule), and achieved the first synthesis of a sex hormone, androsterone — launching steroid chemistry.
Fields
Related topics
Structural and stereoisomerism (cis–trans, enantiomers)
Distinguish constitutional isomers from stereoisomers, then analyze geometric and optical stereochemistry using molecular connectivity and three-dimensional arrangement.
Alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids
Three large families of natural products arise from different biosynthetic building blocks and show wide structural variety and biological activity.