Ralf Steudel Explained

Ralf Steudel
Birth Date:25 March 1937
Birth Place:Dresden, Germany
Death Date:12 February 2021[1] (83)
Death Place:Berlin, Germany
Nationality:German
Work Institutions:Technische Universität Berlin
Alma Mater:Free University of Berlin
Technische Universität Berlin
Doctoral Advisor:Peter W. Schenk
Known For:Sulfur chemistry

Ralf Steudel (* 25 March 1937 – 12 February 2021) was a German chemist and university professor who was known for his research in the area of sulfur chemistry as well as for his textbook Chemistry of the Non-Metals, which appeared in several languages and many editions. Complementing his pioneering contributions to polysulfides, he authored many reviews on the subject.

Steudel was born to a family of entrepreneurs in the Saxonian town of Kamenz. In 1954 he escaped to West Berlin, and started his university studies in chemistry in 1957 at the Free University Berlin under the supervision of Peter Wolfgang Schenk, whose research focused on sulfur monoxide and related chalcogen compounds. Steudel graduated in 1963. In 1965, he received his PhD in chemistry at Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin)[2] where he subsequently made his habilitation work resulting in the venia legendi for inorganic chemistry in 1969.[3] In the same year he was appointed professor of inorganic chemistry at TU Berlin, a position he held until his retirement in 2003. In 1973/74 he spent 1 year as a visiting professor at the Spectroscopy Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Research

Steudel made many contributions to the chemistry of sulfur. His group prepared several new allotropes, often using titanocene pentasulfide. Two examples are S11 and S13, which resulted from the titanocene reagent and S6Cl2 and S8Cl2, respectively.[4] He also discovered routes to the lower sulfur oxides. One example is S8O.[5] Much of his work benefited from the use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to analyze reaction and to assess purity. Using HPLC, he established the existence of rings up to S18 and beyond.

Publications (textbooks)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ralf Steudel . Remembr.com . Remembr . 29 June 2021.
  2. Web site: Chemistry Tree - Ralf Steudel . academictree.org . 1 February 2021.
  3. Ralf Steudel . The Chemistry of Organic Polysulfanes R2Sn (n > 2) . . 11 . 3905–3945 . 2002 . 102 . 10.1021/cr010127m. 12428982 .
  4. Darstellung, Kristallstruktur und Schwingungsspektren von cyclo-Undekaschwefel (S11) und von cyclo-Tridekaschwefel (S13). R. Steudel, J. Steidel, T. Sandow. 1986. 41. 958–970. 10.1515/znb-1986-0806. free.
  5. Book: R. Steudel. Sulfur-Rich Oxides SnO and SnO2. Elemental Sulfur und Sulfur-Rich Compounds II. Steudel, R.. 2003. Springer. Berlin-Heidelberg. 9783540449515. 10.1007/b13185.