View source for Eugène-Melchior Péligot

{{Short description|French chemist (1811–1890)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              =
| image             = Eugene peligot.jpg
| alt               =
| birth_date        = {{birth date |1811|03|24|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Paris]], [[First French Empire|France]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1890|04|15 |1811|03|24|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Paris]], [[Third French Republic|France]]
| nationality       = French
| fields            = [[Chemistry]]
| workplaces        = [[Institut National Agronomique]]
| known_for         = Discovery of [[Potassium chlorochromate]]
| awards            = [[Legion of Honor]]<ref>[http://herve.delboy.perso.sfr.fr/verrerie_peligot.html Eugène Péligot, membre de l'Institut]</ref>
}}
'''Eugène-Melchior Péligot''' (24 March 1811 – 15 April 1890), also known as Eugène Péligot, was a [[French people|French]] [[chemist]] who isolated the first sample of [[uranium]] metal in 1841.<ref name="epa">{{cite web |url=http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/uranium.html |title=Uranium {{!}} Radiation Protection Program {{!}} US EPA |website=www.epa.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117003747/http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/uranium.html |archive-date=2008-01-17}} </ref>
Péligot proved that the black powder of [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth]] was not a pure metal (it was an [[uranium oxide|oxide of uranium]], known in chemistry as UO<sub>2</sub>).  He then succeeded in producing pure uranium metal by reducing [[uranium tetrachloride]] (UCl<sub>4</sub>) with [[potassium]] metal in 1841.<ref name="celestial">[http://homepage.mac.com/dtrapp/Elements/celestial.html Celestial Bodies<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020220111653/http://homepage.mac.com/dtrapp/Elements/celestial.html |date=2002-02-20 }}</ref><ref>[[s:fr:Page:Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences, tome 013, 1841.djvu/429]]</ref> Today better methods have been found.<ref name="eb1911">{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Uranium |volume=27 |page=788 }}</ref>
[[Image:Potassium chlorochromate.jpg|thumb|left|144 px|[[Potassium chlorochromate]] was discovered by Péligot and is sometimes referred to as [[Péligot's salt]].]]
Péligot was a [[professor]] of [[analytical chemistry]] at the [[Institut National Agronomique]]. He collaborated with [[Jean-Baptiste Dumas]], and together they discovered the [[methyl]] [[Radical (chemistry)|radical]] during [[experiment]]s on [[wood spirit]] ([[methanol]]). The terminology "[[methyl alcohol]]" was created by both chemists from "wood wine". They also prepared the [[gaseous]] [[dimethyl ether]], and many [[ester]]s. In 1838, they successfully transformed [[camphor]] into [[p-cymene|''p''-cymene]] using [[phosphorus pentoxide]].
In 1844 he synthesized [[chromium(II) acetate]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Peligot|first=E.-M.|authorlink=Eugene-Melchior Peligot|journal=[[C. R. Acad. Sci.]]|title=Sur un nouvel oxide de chrome|year=1844|volume=19|pages=609–618|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Peligot|first=E.-M.|authorlink=Eugene-Melchior Peligot|journal=[[Ann. Chim. Phys.]]|date=1844|volume=12|page=528|language=French}}</ref> which was much later recognized (by [[F. Albert Cotton]] in 1964) to be the first chemical compound which contains a [[quadruple bond]].<ref>Cotton, F. A.; Walton, R. A. "Multiple Bonds Between Metal Atoms" Oxford (Oxford): 1993. {{ISBN|0-19-855649-7}}.</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of chemists]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://histoirechimie.free.fr/Lien/PELIGOT.htm Photograph of Peligot]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peligot, Eugene-Melchior}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French chemists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Paris]]
[[Category:Uranium]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
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