ABSTRACT
The article presents a short history of David Shugar studies in the field of photochemistry and UV spectroscopy of proteins and nucleic acids, carried out since the late 1940s. to the beginning of the 1970s. of the 20th century, with some references to the state of related research in those days.
Subject(s)
Biochemistry/history , Nucleic Acids/history , Photochemistry/history , Proteins/history , Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet/history , Belgium , France , History, 20th Century , Nucleic Acids/chemistry , Poland , Proteins/chemistryABSTRACT
Two PhD theses (Alexander Gordienko, 1912; Johannes Angerstein, 1914) and a dissertation in partial fulfillment of a PhD thesis (H. S. French, Zurich, 1914) are reviewed that deal with hitherto unpublished UV-vis spectroscopy work of coordination compounds in the group of Alfred Werner. The method of measurement of UV-vis spectra at Alfred Werner's time is described in detail. Examples of spectra of complexes are given, which were partly interpreted in terms of structure (cis â trans configuration, counting number of bands for structural relationships, and shift of general spectral features by consecutive replacement of ligands). A more complete interpretation of spectra was hampered at Alfred Werner's time by the lack of a light absorption theory and a correct theory of electron excitation, and the lack of a ligand field theory for coordination compounds. The experimentally difficult data acquisitions and the difficult spectral interpretations might have been reasons why this method did not experience a breakthrough in Alfred Werner's group to play a more prominent role as an important analytical method. Nevertheless the application of UV-vis spectroscopy on coordination compounds was unique and novel, and witnesses Alfred Werner's great aptitude and keenness to always try and go beyond conventional practice.