Pregl's quantitative organic microanalysis
Microanálisis orgánico cuantitativo de Pregl
- Date
- 1911-1917 · confidence medium
- Place
- Graz, Styria, Austria
- Credited to
- Fritz Pregl (born in Ljubljana)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A technique for determining carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen in milligram samples, using microgram balances and miniaturised combustion. It made it possible to analyse organic compounds available in very small amounts.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1923. Pregl was born in Ljubljana (then Laibach, Carniola) and worked in Innsbruck and Graz; the method was detailed in Die quantitative organische Mikroanalyse (1917).
What it led to
- determination of formulas of natural products and hormones
- today's automated elemental analysis