Theodor Wertheim (25 December 1820 – 6 July 1864) was an Austrian chemist.
Life Wertheim was born on 25 December 1820 in Vienna, Austrian Empire. He was the father of gynecologist Ernst Wertheim and brother of physicist .
Wertheim studied organic chemistry in Berlin as a pupil of Eilhard Mitscherlich, and in 1843 travelled to the University of Prague, where he studied under Josef Redtenbacher.Redtenbacher Josef @ Austrian Biographical Encyclopaedia 1815-1950 (ÖBL). Volume 9. He served as privatdozent in Vienna, and from 1853 to 1860, was a professor at the University of Pest. From 1861 onward, he was a professor at the University of Graz. In May 1864, he moved back to Vienna, where he died soon afterwards.
In 1848, Wertheim became a corresponding member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences.
In 1844, Wertheim distilled a pungent substance from garlic, naming it "allyl".Ernst Wertheim @ Who Named It In his research, he noticed the close relationship between garlic oil and mustard oil.The Volatile Oils by Eduard Gildemeister, Friedrich Hoffmann, Edward KremersTheodor Wertheim: About the relationship between mustard oil and garlic oil, Annalen der Chemie and Pharmacie 55/3 (1845) 297–304. He published a number of studies on garlic oil, piperine, quinine and coniine in Liebig's Annalen der Chemie.
See also Allyl group Diallyl disulfide
References
biography @ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
Further reading Johannes Uray, Organische Chemie in chemischer Forschung und Lehre an österreichischen Universitäten zwischen 1840 und 1870. In: Bericht über den 25. Österreichischen Historikertag in St. Pölten 2008. St. Pölten 2010, S 402-427.