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Charles Friedel

French chemist and mineralogist (1832–1899)

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Life

A native of Strasbourg, France, Friedel was a student of Louis Pasteur at the Sorbonne. In 1876, he became a professor of chemistry and mineralogy at the Sorbonne. While there he was elected as an honorary member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1892.

Friedel developed the Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions with James Crafts in 1877, and attempted to make synthetic diamonds.

Friedel's wife's father was the engineer, Charles Combes. The Friedel family is a rich lineage of French scientists:

  • Georges Friedel (1865–1933), French crystallographer and mineralogist; son of Charles
  • Edmond Friedel (1895–1972), French mining engineer, founder of BRGM, the French geological survey; son of Georges
  • Jacques Friedel (1921–2014), French physicist; son of Edmond

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