Organic chemist, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (formerly AustriaHungary). He studied at the Prague Institute of Technology, then worked as an industrial chemist, before moving to Zagreb University. In 1941, when the Germans invaded Yugoslavia, he taught at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, and became professor of chemistry (195076). Following his notable work in organic chemistry, and especially in stereochemistry, he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1975.
Vladimir Prelog (July 23, 1906 – January 7, 1998) was a renowned Croatian chemist who worked in Prague, Zagreb and Zurich and who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1975.
Early years
Prelog was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at that time within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Work in Zagreb
In 1935, he was invited to join the Technical Faculty (Tehnički Fakultet) of the University of Zagreb, where he took the post of lecturer in organic chemistry.
With the help of collaborators and students, and financially sponsored by the pharmaceutical factory "Kašel" (currently Pliva), he started research of quinine and its compounds.
Scientific work here was crowned with the first synthesis of adamantane, a hydrocarbon with an unusual alicyclic structure, being isolated from Moravian oil fields.
The results of Prelog's work have been published in the top European chemical literature and journals, while the organic chemistry developed in Zagreb at that time was well known and identifiable around the world.
Work in Zurich
In 1941, he accepted the invitation of Lavoslav Ružička and left for Zurich, Switzerland, to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, or Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule).
After Ružička's retirement in 1957, Prelog took over the organic chemistry laboratory where he expanded its activity to unusual areas: heterocyclic compounds, alkaloids, alicyclic compounds, and the isolation and study of biochemically active compounds found in smaller quantities in animal organisms.
His research has contributed to the explanation of the structure of steroids, triterpene, quinine, strychnine, solanine and other alkaloids introducing so-called Prelog's regulation, which defines the conformational relations between reactants and products.
Thanks to him and Ružička, Zurich has become one of the most significant centers of modern organic chemistry.
Nobel Prize winner
Prelog received the 1975 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his works in the field of natural compounds and stereochemistry, sharing it with the Australian/British research chemist John Cornforth.
His scientific opus encompasses more than 400 works.
Private life
As a private person, he was the source of anecdotes about almost all eminent chemists all over the world.
Vladimir Prelog died in Zurich, (Switzerland), at the age of 92.
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