Rolf Appel was an inorganic chemist who worked in the area of organophosphorus chemistry. Appel was born in 1921.

Education

He received his PhD at age 30. Appel was appointed in 1962 to both the University of Bonn along with the inorganic chemical institute in 1962 from the University of Heidelberg. He was a research assistant in Chemistry at Boon University in Bonn, when he developed the Appel reaction

Appel reaction

The Appel reaction is an organic reaction that converts an alcohol into an alkyl chloride using triphenylphosphine and carbon tetrachloride. The use of carbon tetrabromide or bromine as a halide source will yield alkyl bromides, whereas using methyl iodide or iodine gives alkyl iodides...

. For his discovery, Appel received the Liebig Medal

Liebig Medal

The Liebig-Denkmünze is an award originally given annually by the Verein Deutscher Chemiker beginning in 1903. The medal is named after Justus von Liebig.- Recipients :* 1903 Adolf von Baeyer, Munich* 1904 Rudolf Knietsch, Ludwigshafen...

. In 1986, he retired from the inorganic institute. He was succeeded by Edgar Neicke.

The Appel reaction is an organic reaction

Organic reaction

Organic reactions are chemical reactions involving organic compounds. The basic organic chemistry reaction types are addition reactions, elimination reactions, substitution reactions, pericyclic reactions, rearrangement reactions, photochemical reactions and redox reactions. In organic synthesis,...

 that converts an alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 into an alkyl chloride

Chloride

The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...

 using triphenylphosphine

Triphenylphosphine

Triphenylphosphine is a common organophosphorus compound with the formula P3 - often abbreviated to PPh3 or Ph3P. It is widely used in the synthesis of organic and organometallic compounds. PPh3 exists as relatively air stable, colorless crystals at room temperature...

 and carbon tetrachloride

Carbon tetrachloride

Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names is the organic compound with the formula CCl4. It was formerly widely used in fire extinguishers, as a precursor to refrigerants, and as a cleaning agent...

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