Otto Roelen was a German chemist.

Roelen studied chemistry and graduated in 1922 from Technische Hochschule Stuttgart

University of Stuttgart

The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....

. He worked with Franz Fischer

Franz Joseph Emil Fischer

Franz Joseph Emil Fischer was a German chemist. He and Hans Tropsch discovered the Fischer-Tropsch process. With Hans Schrader he developed the Fischer Assay, a standardized laboratory test for determining the oil yield from oil shale to be expected from a conventional shale oil extraction...

 and Hans Tropsch

Hans Tropsch

Hans Tropsch was a chemist responsible, along with Franz Fischer, for the development of the Fischer-Tropsch process.- Life :...

 at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research from 1922. He developed the homogeneously catalysed

Homogeneous catalysis

In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is a sequence of reactions that involve a catalyst in the same phase as the reactants. Most commonly, a homogeneous catalyst is codissolved in a solvent with the reactants.-Acid catalysis:...

 hydroformylation

Hydroformylation

Hydroformylation, also known as oxo synthesis or oxo process, is an important industrial process for the production of aldehydes from alkenes. This chemical reaction entails the addition of a formyl group and a hydrogen atom to a carbon-carbon double bond...

 process (also known as the "oxo synthesis") for the industrial synthesis of aldehyde

Aldehyde

An aldehyde is an organic compound containing a formyl group. This functional group, with the structure R-CHO, consists of a carbonyl center bonded to hydrogen and an R group....

s from alkene

Alkene

In organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond...

s and carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...

.

During the second world war

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he was chief chemist for Ruhr Chemie, and after the war he described the construction, operation and yields of oxo synthesis plants in detail to British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

Several countries have organizations called the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR.-United Kingdom:...

 interrogators.

Roelen was awarded the Adolf von Baeyer

Adolf von Baeyer

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer was a German chemist who synthesized indigo, and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Born in Berlin, he initially studied mathematics and physics at Berlin University before moving to Heidelberg to study chemistry with Robert Bunsen...

 prize by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker in 1963. In his honor, DECHEMA

DECHEMA

DECHEMA stands for "Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie" .Founded in 1926, this is a non-profitmaking organization based in Frankfurt. It has over 5000 chemists, biotechnologists and engineers as members...

named the Otto Roelen prize after him.

External links

• Life and work (Technische Universität Braunschweig)