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SERTÜRNER - FIRST OF THE ALKALOID CHEMISTS
| Swedish pharmacist Scheele paved the way for isolating organic plant
acids; but it remained for a young German apothecary, Friedrich Wilhelm
Adam Sertürner, to give the world opium's chief narcotic principle,
morphine; and to recognize and prove the importance of a new class of organic
substances: alkaloids. His first announcements challenged, Sertürner
in 1816 conducted a new series of bold, startling experiments in his apothecary
shop in Einbeck, including a series of physiologic tests on himself and
three young friends. Recognition and fame followed. Relocating in an apothecary
shop in Hameln, Sertürner continued organic chemical experimentation
and discovery throughout his life. |
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