Emile Eugéne Burcker

Emile-Eugène Burcker (1846-1908) was a French military pharmacist who carried out a successful research program on the application of the Friedel-Crafts method to the synthesis of acids, ketones, aldehydes, and glycols in the aromatic series, which finally culminated in his doctoral thesis. In particular, he was able to synthesize a significant number of new acetonic and ketonic acids characterized by the presence in their molecule of both the carbonyl group CO and the group COOH; thus, having the ability to react as ketones, forming salts, esters, and as ordinary acids, and everything also, under the influence of nascent hydrogen, of forming oxyacids or acid-alcohols. Some new compounds included benzoylpropionic acid, benzhydrylpropionic acid, phenyl propyl acetone, toluylpropionic acid, phenylcamphoric acid, etc. Burcker also established the best procedure for dosing KOH, as well as an improved version of the Kjeldahl method to determine the amount of nitrogen present in organic compounds.