Ludwig Frederick Audrieth and Synthetic Sweeteners
(1907-1967)

C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

Noyes Laboratory:
One Hundred Years of Chemistry


A Century of Accomplishment
The Bare Facts
Nobel Prize Winners
ACS Presidents
Priestley Medal Winner


Fine Chemicals

The Illinois State Water Survey

Chemists and Chemistry at Noyes:
Roger Adams:
"The Chief"
Ludwig F. Audrieth and Synthetic Sweeteners
John C. Bailar Jr. and Coordination Chemistry
St. Elmo Brady: Pioneer
George L. Clark and High-Intensity X-Ray Tubes
Willis H. Flygare and Microwave Spectrometry
Reynold C. Fuson: Teaching Chemistry
Herbert S. Gutowsky and NMR Spectroscopy
B. Smith Hopkins and the Chemistry of Rare Earths
Henry Fraser Johnstone and the Study of Air Pollution
Herbert A. Laitinen and Analytical Chemistry
Carl "Speed" Marvel: Advances in Polymer Chemistry
William A. Noyes: The Department Comes of Age
Arthur W. Palmer: The Early Years
Samuel W. Parr and Applied Chemistry
Charles C. Price III and Antimalarials
Worth H. Rodebush and Physical Chemistry
William C. Rose and Amino Acids
George F. Smith and the Aerosol Can
Harold R. Snyder and Antimalarials
Marion Sparks and Chemical Information

Landmark Designation

Born in Vienna, Ludwig Audrieth became an American citizen as a child and was educated at Colgate and Cornell. He received a Ph.D. from the latter in 1926 and remained two more years as a fellow, completing both his doctoral and post-doctoral studies under A. W. Browne. At this time, Audrieth began to study nitrogen chemistry and reactions in non-aqueous solvents. He joined the Illinois faculty in 1928, where he began studying the chemistry of nitrogen-phosphorus compounds and of sulfamic acid, sulfamide and their derivatives. This research led in 1939 to the discovery with Michael Sveda of the artificial sweetener sodium cyclamate. Sucaryl, the sodium salt of cyclohexylsulfamic acid, went on the market in 1950 as a non-caloric sweetener.

In the 1950s Audrieth developed methods still used for the production of hydrazine, which he recognized in 1938 as potentially valuable for use in high-energy fuels. He investigated the chemistry of rocket fuels, eventually holding fifteen patents dealing with rocket propellants and explosives. He was an innovator in the chemistry of non-aqueous solvents.

Audrieth was one of the founders of the Inorganic Syntheses series. He was a prolific contributor to it, and he served as a member of its Board of Editors from 1934 to 1967. He was co-author with B. A. Ogg of The Chemistry of Hydrazine in 1950 and with Jacob Kleinberg of Non-Aqueous Solvents: Applications as Media for Chemical Reactions in 1953.

Audrieth went on leave from Illinois in 1959 to serve his adopted country as scientific attaché in the American Embassy in Bonn, Germany. In 1963 Audrieth became a visiting professor of science affairs at the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State in Washington, DC.

 


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