Prof. Dr. Zemplén Géza


(1883 - 1956)


Géza Zemplén was born in Trencsén, Hungary, on 26th October, 1883. His father was a post inspector, which caused the family to move from place to place in Hungary. G. Zemplén attended primary and secondary school in Fiume, then a sea port of Hungary. There he was confronted with a multilingual environment at an early age. Thanks to his outstanding academic achievements at school, he got admission and a government grant to Eötvös József College (the grant was awarded to talented students). Thus he graduated from Pázmány Péter University of Budapest as a natural sciences and chemistry teacher. In 1904 he had a teaching position at a state secondary school in Markó street, the 5th district of Budapest.
In 1904 he wrote his doctoral thesis on "The surface tension of water solutions", thereby becoming Doctor of Philosophy. In 1905, he was appointed an Assistant Professor, and, in 1907, an Associate Professor at the School of Forestry and Mining, Selmecbánya. He did hid military service for a year.


In 1907 he went to Berlin on a 4 month government scholarship and then again from 1908 to 1910 on a 2 year government grant to work with the staff of the famous scientist, Emil Fischer. There he was first under Rudolf Abderhalden and got familiar with the chemistry of enzymes. Shortly afterwards he became a direct assistant to Emil Fischer. During the two years they worked together, G. Zemplén was introduced to the chemistry of amino acids, proteins and carbohydrates as well as the most up-to-date research and methods.


In 1911, on returning home, he became university professor by writing a thesis on "The chemistry of carbohydrates, proteins and enzymes."
In 1913 he was appointed ordinary professor and head of the newly established Institute for Organic Chemistry of the Royal József Technical University of Budapest and he was head for another 43 years, until his death.


Besides working as a lecturer and researcher, he established close links with the industry. In 1915 he became consultant for Chinoin Pharmaceutical Works.
He built up and equipped his Institute, making it into the centre of Hungarian organic chemistry research (Picture: G. Zemplén in his laboratory.) He took active part in the Hungarian and international scientific life. He contributed several entries to "Biochemisches Handlexikon" and "Handbuch der Biochemischen Arbeitsmethoden", both edited by Abderhalden.


He liked music, art, and poetry. Throughout his life he entertained his circle of students and friends by singing Italian songs, and reciting from Dante"s "Divine Comedy" and other works which he knew by heart. He was not only fond of folk music, however, but had a great love for opera, particularly the works of the great Italian composeres as well as of Wagner. His musical proficiency was stimulated by his close friendship with Zoltán Kodály, the renowned Hungarian composer, with whom he spent much time during his college years. As an art enthusiast, he painstakingly collected art albums and etchings, and spoke of the masterpieces with the same reverence he accorded his great teacher, Emil Fischer. As strict as he was during working hours, he was just as congenial and jovial in his social life. He usually gathered his coworkers and friends together in one of the famous Buda restaurants or at one of the resorts along the Danube. At such times, they spent many enjoyable hours, drinking good Hungarian wine, singing, and joking, usually until the early hours. Nevertheless, he always appeared at his laboratory by eight o'clock the next morning, the ever-present cigar in his mouth, ready to begin his work with "full steam ahead."

He educated several prominent chemists at the Institute who aquired renown. Nobel Prize laureate Georg Oláh stands out among them especially.


Without aspiring to completeness, the list below contains some of his staff's members:


  • Beke, Dénes
  • Bognár, Rezsö
  • Bruckner, Zoltán
  • Csürös, Zoltán
  • Döry, István
  • Eckhart, Ede
  • Farkas, Loránd
  • Fári, László
  • Földi, Zoltán
  • Gerecs, Árpád
  • Harsányi, Kálmán
  • Kisfaludy, Lajos
  • Kiss, Dénes
  • Korbonits, Dezsö
  • Kuncz, Alfonz
  • Major, Ádám
  • Messmer, András
  • Mester, László
  • Mezey, Barna
  • Móczár, Elemér
  • Müller, Sándor
  • Oláh, György
  • Pacsu, Jenö
  • Pallos, László
  • Schawartz, József
  • Schügerl, Károly
  • Szántay, Csaba
  • Tettamanti, Károly
  • Weiss, Rezsö

  • In addition to liaising with the industry and especially with the pharmaceutical industry, he launched research into carbohydrates at the Institute, which was to earn a lot of success and acknowledgement.
    Of his oeuvre, the method later called "Zemplén-degradation" is worth mentioning.


    In the early 1920's, while attempting to obtain the sodium salt of D-glucose, he discovered a new process for the catalytic saponification of sugar acetates, using sodium methoxide, a method which has now become a standard procedure.
    The essence of the method is catalytic saponification of sugar acetates using sodium methoxide: acetylated sugar is turned into aldonic acid nitril, which is then boiled in a chlorofom-methanol solution with sodium methoxide. This new degradation process not only makes possible the preparation of a great number of new bioses, but is also very useful in the determination of the position of linkage between the two sugar residues, in such important oligosaccharides as cellobiose, maltose, lactose, turanose, and melicitose. This is because the degradation may only be continued to the carbon atom adjacent to the position of linkage. The proof, by this procedure, of the configuration of cellobiose and maltose contributed greatly to the elucidation of the structure of cellulose and starch.


    A significant achievement during the synthesis of glycosides and oligosaccharides was the so-called "mercury acetate method". Up to that time, all syntheses of glycosides had started with the alpha-D-"acetohalogeno" derivatives (poly-O-acetyl-alpha-D-glycosyl halides), but, due to the Walden inversion, the resulting product was invariably the ß-glycoside. G. Zemplén discovered the usefulness of mercuric acetate in the synthesis of glycosides. This procedure was eminently suitable for the preparation of alkyl glycosides and, with the application of proper amounts of alcohols, either the alpha- or the ß-D-glycosides could be obtained.
    He described the discovery of this method in the following (translated) statement: "It was by accident that I discovered the usefulness of mercuric acetate in the synthesis of glycosides. My intention was to reduce acetobromocellobiose with amalgamated aluminum shavings in benzene solution; during these experiments, I observed that, when a mixture of acetobromoglucose, phenol, mercuric acetate, and granulated aluminum was briefly heated on the water-bath, optically pure phenyl hepta-O-acetyl-alpha-cellobioside was formed in good yield."


    Some results of structure elucidations and syntheses: amygdalin, solanin, rutin, rutinose, hesperidin, neohesperidin, lusitanicosid, linarin, pectolinarin, primverose, isoprimverose, ruberitric acid (occurring in madder root), robinin, etc.
    In the early 1940's Zemplén's attention was centered on the synthesis of flavon glycosides and later on other naturally occurring glycosides such as iso-flavon glycosides, auron glycosides and so on. (Some examples: phloridzin, asebotin, sakuranin, apigenin-5-D-glycoside, genistin, ononin, sophoricoside, sophorabioside, etc.)


    The Second World War brought nearly complete destruction of Zemplén's Institute; nothing but the four walls remained after the siege of Budapest. Most of his equipment and his valuable collection of irreplaceable specimens and other materials were destroyed. His lifelong work lay under a heap of rubble, unexploded grenades, and the like. Yet, even this dreadful sight could not break his indomitable spirit. With the assistance of his students, he began restoration work almost immediately and, after months of long, hard work, some of the equipment was salvaged. This enabled them to resume scientific work in the basement, which they used until 1949, when the Institute was completely rebuilt.


    In 1947, while the reconstruction was in progress, he received and accepted an invitation from Father Hunter Guthrie, Dean of Georgetown University, Washington D.C., to conduct scientific research there as a Visiting Professor.


    At the beginning of 1948, he arrived unexpectedly at the airport of Budapest. "I have come home to die," he said to his assistants who were highly excited by his surprising return. Unfortunately, he had hardly established himself in his laboratory at Georgetown, when he was stricken with cancer and had to undergo surgery and other treatment. There was little hope of complete recovery, however, so he decided to return to Hungary.
    When he was back there, his condition improved steadily - to such an extent, indeed, that he was able to take over personal direction of the remaining reconstruction work. In 1950, his health again failed. Every effort was made to save him; he even attempted self-treatment which was succesful in somewhat delaying the progress of his illness. By this time, he was confined to his home, but scientific research still remained uppermost in his mind. He supervised the investigations on the preparation of formazans from carbohydrates, and reported many interesting results in the field of carbohydrates.


    Meanwhile, he completed his textbook on organic chemistry. (Szerves Kémia, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1952.)


    G. Zemplén's work in other fields of chemistry were overshadoved even in Hungary by his outstanding achievements in carbohydrate research, which brought him international fame. For example, hardly anyone is aware of the fact that as early as 1912(!) he already published articles in Hungarian and international periodicals on "Experiments aiming at the industrial use of urease". Few have ever heard of his book, published in 1915(!) entitled "Enzymes and their practical use".

    He had over 200 publications. His wide-ranging and succesful activities earned him ample reward.
    His most important distinctions were:
    1923: He became a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
    1927: Full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
    1928: He received the Academy's Major Award.
    1931: The Corvin Laurel.
    1948: Kossuth Prize.
    He became Honorary President of the Hungarian Chemical Society.
    In recognition of his numerous accomplishments, he received international acclaim. He became a member of the Kaiserlich Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher zu Halle and a correspondent of the Schlesische Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Kultur. In 1940 he was awarded the A. W. Hofmann Gold Medal (Berlin).


    On account of his deteriorating health, from 1952 on G. Zemplén was assisted in heading the Institute by D. Beke. Though seriously ill, he maintained links with his staff, attending the Institute as often as possible, which he was able to do less and less frequently, unfortunately.


    He passed away on 24th July, 1956 (Budapest).



    Sources:
    1.
    Dr. Móra László: Zemplén Géza. A hazai tudományos szerves kémia megalapitója (1883-1956)
    Budapesti Müszaki Egyetem Központi Könyvtára, Müszaki Tudománytörténeti Kiadványok, 21. szám. Budapest. (in Hungarian).
    2.
    A Budapesti Müszaki Egyetem Vegyészmérnöki Karának Centenáriumi Emlékkönyve, 1871-1971.
    A BME Vegyészmérnöki Karának Kiadványa, Budapest, 1972.(in Hungarian).
    3.
    L.Mester: Géza Zemplén, 1883-1956
    In Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry, Vol.,14. 1959, 1-8, (in English).
    4.
    R.Bognár: Géza Zemplén (1883-1956). Nachruf.
    Acta Chimica Acad. Sci. Hung., 19. (1959), 121-142, (in German).
    5.
    Müller Sándor: Zemplén Géza emlékezete
    MTA Kémiai Tudományok Osztályának Közleményei, 11. 1959, 117-133, (in Hungarian).
    6.
    Csürös Zoltán: Zemplén Géza emlékezete
    Kémiai Közlemények, 27. 1967, 13-17, (in Hungarian).


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