Victor Grignard  1912 (69)

Victor Grignard  1912 (69)

Victor Grignard was born at Cherbourg, May 6, 1871, the son of Marie Hebert and Theophile Henri Grignard, a foreman and sail maker at the local marine arsenal. Victor attended the lycée at Cherbourg from where he graduated with honors in 1887. At that time the city of Paris offered scholarships to brilliant graduates from the secondary schools in the provinces, to prepare for the entrance examinations to one of her universities. The Cherbourg lycée had received a promise that Grignard would be awarded one of those scholarships in order to prepare for the entrance examinations to the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Unfortunately, because of the expenses involved in the preparation of the 1889 World Exposition  (that would see the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower) no scholarships were offered at the time of Grignard’s graduation from high school.

Whoever took this decision, could have hardly guessed the tremendous impact it would have in the development of organic chemistry. Grignard was left with no alternative but to register at the Ecole Normale Secundaire Speciale at Cluny, an institution that had been established in 1866 as a training school for teachers of modern secondary education, for those who wanted to become businessmen, farmers, or study classical subjects as preparation for the liberal professions.

One problem followed another because this Ecole was closed in 1891, as a result of a reform of the secondary education law. As a consequence, Grignard and all other students were transferred to the University of Lyon to complete their studies. In 1892, after failing in his exams for the licentiate in mathematics, he enrolled in the army for his military service and then returned to Lyon to complete his studies of mathematics (License es-Sciences Mathematiques) in 1894.

Louis Rousset, a classmate from Cluny, influenced Grignard to overcome his dislike for chemistry and to accept a position (December, 1894) as preparateur adjoint in general chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of Lyon, working for Louis Bouveault (1864-1909). Grignard had a very poor opinion of chemistry, he believed that compared to mathematics, chemistry was a minor science, totally empirical and requiring a memorizing effort that was beyond his aptitudes.

Association with Bouveault made him change his mind; through his master he understood the logical of chemistry and the way to look for the crucial experience that would demonstrate the point in question. In 1895 he was promoted to preparateur and began a long association with Philippe Antoine Barbier (1848-1922), a former student of Marcelin Berthelot (1827-1907) and the head of the department of chemistry. In 1889 Barbier had successfully realized the conversion of an unsaturated acetone into the corresponding ternary alcohol using methyl iodide and magnesium instead of zinc as called for by the Saytzeff method.

After obtaining his degree of License es-Sciences Physiques Grignard was promoted to chef des travaux pratiques in 1898, replacing his close friend Rousset who had passed away very young. In the same year he published his first scientific paper in collaboration with Barbier (Grignard and Barbier, 1898). This paper was followed by another one describing a method for the synthesis of hydrocarbons having simultaneously double and triple bonds and about hydrocarbons having three conjugated double bonds (Grignard, 1899). He now started looking for a doctoral thesis topic; first he got first interested in the subject of enzymes but Barbier convinced him who switch to the study of the new reaction he had discovered. In 1901 he submitted his brilliant thesis on chemical synthesis using organomagnesium compounds (Grignard, 1901) and was awarded the degree of Docteur es Sciences by the Faculty of Sciences of Lyon.

Grignard was appointed Maitre de Conferences at Besancon in 1905, and after one year there he returned to Lyon to occupy a similar position until 1908 when he was promoted to Professeur Adjoint de Chimie Générale. In 1909 he was appointed Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Nancy, replacing Edmond Blaise (1872-1939), and promoted to Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1910. That year he married Augustine Marie Boulant, and had two sons with her, Robert Paindestre and Roger, born in 1911.

In 1919 he returned to Lyon to succeed his former professor, Barbier, as Professor of General Chemistry. In 1921 he was also appointed Directeur de l’Ecole de Chimie Industrielle, became a member of the University Council, and in 1919 he became Dean of the Faculty of Sciences until his death on December 13, 1935, following a severe surgical operation. Grignard was very prolific, publishing over 170 papers and books. A complete listing of his works appears in a paper by Courtot (1936).

Grignard received many honors for his contributions to chemistry. He was made Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 1912, Officier in 1920, and Commandeur in 1923. He was awarded the Cahours Prize of the Institute of France in 1901 and 1902; the Berthelot Medal in 1902; the Prix Jecker in 1905; the Lavoisier Medal of the Societe Chimique de France in 1912; the Gold Medal of the Societe de Chimique Industrielle in 1931; and the Gold Honor Medal of Hygiene Public in 1933. In November 1912 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his 1900 discovery of the role of organ magnesium compounds in synthesis together with Paul Sabatier (1854-1941), for his discoveries in catalytic hydrogenation of organic compounds by means of finely divided metals. Grignard occupied many public and scientific positions in France, for example, Officer de l’Instruction Publique (1908); member of the Commission de Nomenclature de la Chimique Organique (1912 and 1921); member of Commission des Etudes et Experiences Chimiques de Guerre (1919); member of the Conseil Departmental de Hygiene de Rhone (1922); and member of the Comité Scientifique des Poudres et Explosives (1930). At the University of Lyon he was professor of general chemistry, director of the school of industrial chemistry, and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at Lyon. He was also professor of organic chemistry at the University of Nancy.

Grignard performed some exploratory experiments of the reaction between magnesium and isobutyl iodide and quickly became convinced that it took place spontaneously in absolute ether at room temperature and under ordinary pressure, and that no preliminary heating of the magnesium with the alkyl halide was necessary.

The Grignard method was now firmly established. Grignard concluded that the mixed organo magnesium compounds would be a valuable tool for the synthesis of monobasic acids, alcohols, and hydrocarbons and that they were superior to the organozinc compounds with respect to the ease of handling, wider applicability, and improved yields. Thus, the difference between Grignard’s and Blaise’s results was due to the experimental conditions under which the reaction was conducted. According to Grignard, Blaise had not carried the reaction to completion and his ethylene bromohydrin originated from the reaction between ethylene oxide and magnesium bromide.

Grignard’s research activities were not limited to organ magnesium halides. He made significant contributions to the chemistry of organoaluminium compounds, terpenes, acetylenic compounds, and condensations and reductions under reduced pressure. During World War I he contributed significantly to the study of the degradation action of aluminium chloride on alkylated benzenes with a view of increasing supplies of toluene for the manufacture of TNT. Grignard’s As director of one of the research laboratories on war gases he carried extensive investigations on the analysis and synthesis of mustard gas, phosgene, and other war gases. Grignard died on 13 December 1935 in Lyon, at the age of 64.