On October 19 in Dallas, Heritage sells together as lot 49227 five medals awarded to Wittig : his Nobel medal and four other medals from 1953 to 1973. Among them the Otto Hahn Prize is the highest award in Germany for physics and chemistry. Wittig received it in 1967.
Alkenes are molecules organized around a carbon double bond. When the four peripheral atoms are hydrogen, this simplest alkene is ethylene. Such carbon based molecules are highly useful in pharmacology.
The production of alkenes is difficult by subtraction. Wittig's merit is to have obtained them in an organic synthesis. The combined presence of an aldehyde and a triphenylphosphine oxide creates the desired double bond of carbon by breaking the carbon-oxygen double bond of the aldehyde. Wikimedia provides the formula.
SOLD for $ 274K including premium
Georg Wittig's #NobelPrize for Chemistry in 1979 on the Auction Block at @HeritageAuction https://t.co/5prrZ2khQp pic.twitter.com/Elq0aVeSrU
— Adrian Lam (@AdrianLam82) October 17, 2016