Charles Loring Jackson (1847-1935) was the first significant organic chemist in the United States. He brought organic chemistry to the United States from Germany and educated a generation of American organic chemists.

Personal life

Charles Loring Jackson was born in Boston on April 4, 1845. He graduated from Harvard College in 1867 after studying in private schools in Boston. He joined the Harvard chemistry department as an assistant lecturer immediately after graduation and on his twenty-first birthday became an assistant professor. He was the third member of the department which consisted of Josiah Parsons Cooke and Henry Barker Hill. April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Harvard Yard Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University, having been founded in 1636. ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1870 Jackson developed a chemistry course which evoloved into Chemistry I, that he taught for more than forty years.

As an adult Jackson enjoyed amateur theatricals and writing poetry and romantic fiction. In retirement he enjoyed gardening at his beautiful estate in Pride's Crossing near Beverly, Massachusetts. Beverly is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts. ...

Learning Chemistry

Jackson was frustrated studying chemistry at Harvard because in the early 1870s there were no chemists in Cambridge, Massachusetts to train him. He therefore traveled to Heidelberg, Germany to study at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. There he trained under Robert Bunsen, a specialist in gas analysis and platinum metals. Although he did not intend to make organic chemistry his specialty, he also worked with the organic chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann. However, Hofmann inspired Jackson to pursue organic chemistry as a career. Jackson was known to have said that he learned to "use his mind" under Hofmann, "an activity that Bunsen rather discouraged." 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: City of Squares Official website: www. ... Heidelberg is a scenic city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt. ... The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) is one of the most prestigious universities of Germany. ... Bunsen redirects here. ... August Wilhelm von Hofmann (April 8, 1818 _ May 5, 1892) was a German chemist. ...

During Jackson's time in Heidelberg Hofmann was writing his Faraday Lectures on Justus von Liebig and had Jackson correct his English. This was a great opportunity for Jackson to develop an intimate association with Hofmann. In 1874 Jackson published his first paper which dealt with organic selenium compounds. Freiherr Justus von Liebig (May 12, 1803 in Darmstadt, Germany - April 18, 1873 in Munich, Germany) was a German chemist. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Research at Harvard

In 1875 after returning to Harvard Jackson synthesized the first new organic compound made in a Harvard laboratory, p-bromobenzyl bromide. This provided a method of producing substituted benzyl compounds with interesting results, such as a synthesis of anthracene. In the following years he developed syntheses of flavoring compounds curcumin and vanillin. He also synthesised benzine tri-sulfonic acid and developed what is now a traditional method of nitrating organic materials, preliminary sulfonation followed by nitration. In the late 1880s he discovered the reaction between highly substituted aromatic halides and malonic ester in which a halogen radical is replaced by a hydrogen, his most prolific source of scientific publications. He also did considerable work on the o-quinones, although he missed the discovery of the parent compound o-benzoquinone by only a small margin. 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A bromide is a phrase, or person who uses phrases, which have been used and repeated so many times as to become either insincere in their meaning, or seem like an attempt at trying to explain the obvious. ... Benzyl is the Organic chemistry term for the radical C6H5CH2-. It is obtained by removing a proton from benzene. ... In chemistry, anthracene is a solid polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon consisting of three benzene rings derived from coal-tar. ... Flavouring (or flavoring) is a product which is added to food in order to change or augment its taste. ... Curcumin is the active ingredient of the Indian curry spice turmeric. ... Vanillin, or 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, is an organic compound with the molecular formula C8H8O3. ... Benzine, also known as petroleum ether, is a group of various volatile, highly flammable, liquid hydrocarbon mixtures used chiefly as nonpolar solvents. ... It has been suggested that Sulfonic acid/Temp be merged into this article or section. ... Chemical structure of sulfonic acid. ... Nitration occurs with aromatic organic compounds via an electrophilic substitution mechanism involving the attack of the electron-rich benzene ring by the (nitryl) nitronium ion. ... In chemistry, an aromatic molecule is one in which electrons are free to cycle around circular arrangements of atoms, which are alternately singly and doubly bonded to one another. ... Halides are either a class of mineral whose principle anions are halogens or the ionic form of a halogen. ... Diethyl malonate, also known as DEM, is the diethyl ester of malonic acid. ... The halogens are a chemical series. ... In chemistry, radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atomic or molecular species with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... Scientific literature is the totality of publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the sciences and social sciences. ... A quinone or benzoquinone is generally defined as an aromatic benzene molecule containing a double ketone functional group. ... Quinone is generally defined as an aromatic beneze molecule containing a double ketone functional group. ...

The European Connection

The importance of Jackson's studies in Europe to the development of the organic chemistry industry in the United States should not be under estimated. In the 1870s when Jackson traveled to Europe there literally was no organic synthesis being done in the United States either in academia or in industry. This short-coming became very evident with the advent of World War I and World War II when the supply of strategic organic materials from Germany to the United States was cut off. Had the United States been unable to quickly develop an organic synthesis capability, the outcome of the World Wars might have been quite different. Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to some dispute as to Europes actual borders. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead:5 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:8 million Military dead:4 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:7 million The First World... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead:17 million Civilian dead:33 million Total dead:50 million Military dead:8 million Civilian dead:4 million Total dead:12 million World War II...

Several of Jackson's students at Harvard, Roger Adams, Farrington Daniels, Frank C. Whitmore, James B. Sumner and James Bryant Conant to name a few, were instrumental in developing organic synthesis in the United States. Some of them had traveled to Germany to study organic synthesis using the connections Jackson had established. Roger Adams (1889-1971) was a leading American organic chemist best known for the Adams catalyst, but who also greatly influenced graduate education in America, trained over 250 Ph. ... Farrington Daniels (1889-1972) is considered one of the pioneers of the modern direct use of solar energy. ... Frank C. Whitmore, nicknamed Rocky, was a chemist who submitted the best piece of evidence for a carbocation mechanism in organic chemistry. ... James Batcheller Sumner (November 19, 1887 - August 12, 1955) was an American chemist. ... James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 - February 11, 1978) was a chemist, educational administrator, and public servant. ... Organic synthesis is the construction of organic molecules via chemical processes. ...

In Jackson's time academic research was generally quite open, resulting in an open and internationalist philosophy among scientists. The World Wars put this philosophy at odds with commonly held beliefs about national security, intellectual property, trade secrets and technology leakage. Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation between nations for the benefit of all. ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ... In law, intellectual property (IP) is a broad entitlement extending the concept of property beyond its materialist definitions to include information, ideas, and other intangible assets in their expressed form. ... A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information used by a business to obtain an advantage over competitors within the same industry or profession. ...

Publications

Fiction

• Charles Loring Jackson, The Gold Point and Other Strange Stories, Stratford Company of Boston (1926)
• Charles Loring Jackson, Samuel Cabot, John Wilson and Son, University Press (January 1, 1908) ASIN B0008D0U36

Scientific

• Charles Loring Jackson, Biographical memoir of Henry Barker Hill, 1849-1903, National Academy of Sciences (January 1, 1905) ASIN B0008AF3CW
• Charles Loring Jackson, On certain colored substances derived from nitro compounds, ASIN B0008CBY1E
• Charles Loring Jackson, Charles Robert Sanger: [Biographical notice], Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, ASIN B0008CWAYE
• Charles Loring Jackson, On certain nitro derivatives of the vicinal tribrombenzol, Harvard University--Chemical Laboratory Contributions, ASIN B0008CBYHS
• Charles Loring Jackson, Memoir of Josiah Parsons Cooke, 1827-1894, National Academy of Sciences (January 1, 1902) ASIN B0008AF390
• Charles Loring Jackson, On certain derivatives of orthobenzoquinone, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (January 1, 1900) ASIN B0008CBYIC
• Charles Loring Jackson, On the action of sodic ethylate on tribromdinitrobenzol, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (January 1, 1898) ASIN B0008CBYH8
• Charles Loring Jackson, On certain derivatives of symmetrical trichlorbenzol, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (January 1, 1898) ASIN B0008CBYHI
• Charles Loring Jackson, On the oxide of dichlormethoxyquinone-dibenzoylmethylacetal, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (January 1, 1898) ASIN B0008CBYI2

References

Frank C. Whitmore, Charles Loring Jackson, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 18, No. 8 (1926)