Moses GombergBorn 8 Feb 1866; died 12 Feb 1947 at age 81.Russian-born American chemist who initiated the study of free radicals in chemistry when in 1900 he prepared the first authentic one, triphenylmethyl. Organic free radicals are essential to body functioning as well as being implicated in aging and diseases. Also, they play a major role in the production of plastics and other widely used synthetic materials. Organic free radicals contain a form of carbon with an unpaired electron which allows the radical to react readily with another molecule. Until Gomberg synthesized triphenylmethyl, free radicals containing carbon had been thought not to exist. Gomberg's discovery led to modern theories of the structure and reactivity of organic molecules, and led to the development of an entire field of research. |