BIRTHDAY 65 CHIMIA 2004, 58, No. 1/2

Chimia 58 (2004) 65–66 © Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft ISSN 0009–4293

Günther Ohloff – Chemist & Pioneer in the Art of Perfumery On the Occasion of his 80th Birthday

Wolfgang Giersch, Gerald Uhde, and Ferdinand Näf*

Keywords: Ohloff, G.

With a first degree in pharmacy, he then It was during this period that he devel- studied chemistry at the Technische Hoch- oped his research interests for the chemistry schule Dresden where he received his diplo- of perfumery extracts from animal sources, ma with a thesis entitled ‘Chemical Investi- in particular amber and musk type ingredi- gation of Turpentine Oil of Silvester Pine ents, and which led to Ambropur®, Lac- (Pinus Silvestris L.)’.After followed a Ph.D. toskaton® and Isobergamiat® as commer- in 1951 under Professor Heinrich Wienhaus cial products. for a dissertation entitled ‘The Condensa- Already during his early days as a phar- tion of Terpenes with Formaldehyde’. macist, and through his whole life he He then decided to move into industry: showed lively interest in the potential phys- Schimmel & Co, Miltitz near Leipzig, iological activities of odorants. In 1956 a which had been the largest perfume manu- study about the aphrodisiac effects of his facturer in the world up to World War I. Ambropur® was published [1]. One of the The exposure in his young days to the reported investigations concerned a 54 year constituents of essential oils, especially under old opera singer suffering from Parkinson’s Prof. Heinrich Wienhaus’ guidance, one of disease and a strongly impaired libido. Af- Prof. Otto Wallach’s last students, influenced ter Ambropur® had been administered to him throughout his scientific career. Günther Who is Günther Ohloff? Soldier, scien- the bed cushion of the singer his libido was Ohloff has to be considered as Otto Wallach’s tist, cosmopolitan, aesthete, collector of art, significantly improved. Later on, as part of grandson, also born in Königsberg, who was non-conformist and writer, Günther Ohloff Ohloff’s continued research into the scent one of the founders of terpene chemistry, re- was born on July 21, 1924, in Tapiau, a of ambergis odorants [2], Christian Vial ceiving the Nobel Prize in 1910. small village near Königsberg, Prussia. He isolated and synthesised the supposedly ac- In order to work in this field of chem- ® passed his high school examination in tive principle of Ambropur (γ-bicycloho- istry it was imperative to develop precise Königsberg, in the midst of World War II. mofarnesal [3][4]) without, however, hav- working habits and it was also necessary to Due to the unfortunate circumstances, he ing experienced the same pharmacological have a comprehensive knowledge of the was drafted as soldier into the German effects reported earlier! relevant scientific literature. These skills army, which was slowly progressing East. An important scientific event during this and knowledge have been passed on with During the assault of Stalingrad, he was se- early period was his getting into contact with great empathy by Günther Ohloff to his col- riously wounded, but miraculously sur- Kurt Alder, Nobel Prize winner 1950, ‘fa- laborators and has assured a continuous vived. For him, therefore, the attempted ther’ of the Diels-Alder and ene reactions. high quality of research work coupled with conquest of Russia was over and after hav- From 1959 to 1962 Günther Ohloff had instructions for exact working methods, ing recovered, he was able to start his stud- a most fruitful period at the Max Planck In- stimulation and motivation for extensive ies in pharmacy at Königsberg and Erlan- stitute, Mülheim, as Senior Research Assis- literature research. gen during which time he also met Asta, his tant. He familiarised himself with singlet Günther Ohloff was and still is attracted future wife. oxygen chemistry, sigmatropic 1,5-hydro- by terpenes comprising a fascinating diver- gen shifts, ene and retro-ene reactions. Dur- sity of molecular structures and possessing ing the same time he developed his passion an extensive variation of odour qualities. for stereochemical aspects of chemistry and Numerous publications or studies are con- biology and in particular their applications cerned with natural product analysis, syn- to perfumery. His developments of industri- *Correspondence: Dr. F. Näf Firmenich SA thesis, configuration and chirality within al syntheses of (+)- and (–)-rose oxide [5], Corporate R&D Division terpene chemistry. (+)- and (–)-citronellol [6], and (+)- and (–)- P.O. Box 239 In 1953, he left Eastern Germany for a linalool [7] were highlights of this period. CH–1211 Geneva 8 (Switzerland) position at Dragoco in Holzminden to set Tel: +41 22 780 30 34 It must have been Günther Ohloff’s re- Fax: +41 22 780 33 34 up, together with his assistant G. Schade, a markable scientific publications with prom- E-Mail: [email protected] scientific research group. ising technical applications for the perfume BIRTHDAY 66 CHIMIA 2004, 58, No. 1/2 industry and finally a lecture in Paris about fragrance chemicals and through systemat- ive of people with new, creative ideas in an ionones which drew everybody’s attention to ic structural variation of lead structures (via attempt to change the world. In particular, this brilliant young man. History has amply the synthesis of positional isomers, di- he generously helped young, emerging sci- shown the predilection of inhabitants of the astereoisomers and enantiomers, together entists with their – sometimes odd – ideas. North for a warmer climate in the South. Not with homologs), he decisively contributed We wish him all the best for many more surprisingly, Günther Ohloff could not resist to the better understanding and prediction years of a healthy, enjoyable future. the temptation to accept an offer from Fir- of structure–odour relationships [19] and Received: January 23, 2004 menich & Cie, a prestigious perfume and therefore, to the targeted discovery of new Selected References flavour house located in the cosmopolitan aroma chemicals (later on supported by [1] R. Halvorsen, Dragoco Berichte 1956, 1, 8. town of Geneva. To make this offer even molecular modelling techniques). [2] G. Ohloff in ‘Fragrance Chemistry’, Ed. more attractive, Roger Firmenich, the then In a courageous extrapolation from the E.T. Theimer, Academic Press, New York, President of the company, allowed him not insect and vertebrate kingdom, he strongly 1982, p. 535. only to specially design and set up a process believed throughout his whole career in the [3] M. Stoll, M. Hinder, Helv. Chim. Acta Research & Development centre in La existence of human pheromones, which he 1950, 33, 1251. [4] F. Näf, C. Vial, EP 0 212 254 (1991). Plaine, Geneva, but also to transfer with him was looking for in the group of animal [5] G.O. Schenk, G. Ohloff, DP 1137 730; G. his former team of co-workers and young, scents such as certain steroids, musks, and Ohloff, E. Klein, G.O. Schenk, Angew. gifted scientists such as G. Schade, K.-H. fatty acids, some of which also occur in hu- Chem. 1961, 73, 578. Schulte-Elte, E. Klein, W. Giersch, M. man sweat. Only now, scientific evidence is [6] R. Rienäcker, G. Ohloff, Angew. Chem. Pawlak, G. Uhde, G. Schneider and G. accumulating that human pheromones real- 1961, 73, 240. Lingesleben. ly exist [20–24]. [7] G. Ohloff, E. Klein, Tetrahedron, 1962, Once in Geneva, he successfully devel- During his long and successful career, 18, 37. oped many unique, industrial processes for Günther Ohloff received many honours and [8] A. Eschenmoser, D. Felix, G. Ohloff, important aroma chemicals such as the awards such as: Helv. Chim. Acta 1967, 50, 708. ® [9] G. Ohloff, J. Becker, K.-H. Schulte-Elte, musks Exaltone [8][9], Muscone [8][9], • Ruzicka Prize from ETH Zurich in 1967; Exaltolide® [10] and the strawberry ingre- Helv. Chim. Acta 1967, 50, 705. • Membership of Firmenich’s General [10] J. Becker, G. Ohloff, Helv. Chim. Acta dient Furaneol® [11]. In parallel, he system- Management in 1973; 1971, 54, 2889. atically investigated synthetic singlet oxy- • Ernest Guenther Prize from ACS in [11] L. Re, B. Maurer, G. Ohloff, Helv. Chim. gen chemistry [12] and solved many stere- 1974; Acta 1973, 56, 1882. ochemical problems in the terpene field. • Hackford-Jones Prize from PPL, UK, in [12] G. Ohloff, Pure Appl. Chem. 1975, 43, 481. Going much beyond the scope of perfume 1980; [13] T. Petrzilka, W. Haefliger, C. Sikemeier, and flavour chemistry and in conjunction • Otto Wallach Medal from GDCh, Ger- G. Ohloff, A. Eschenmoser, Helv. Chim. with his photo-oxygenation work of Acta 1967, 50, 719. many in 1981; limonene, he participated in the first total [14] K.-H. Schulte-Elte, B.L. Muller, G. synthesis of ∆9-trans-tetrahydrocannabi- • Honorary Doctorate from Geneva Uni- Ohloff, Helv. Chim. Acta 1973, 56, 310. nol, an odourless, but physiologically very versity in 1982; [15] G. Ohloff, V. Rautenstrauch, K.-H. Schul- active chemical [13]. • Presidency of the Swiss Chemical Soci- te-Elte, Helv. Chim. Acta 1973, 56, 1503. Together with his La Plaine team, he al- ety in 1986; [16] G. Ohloff in ‘Gustation and Olfaction’, Eds. G. Ohloff, A.F. Thomas, Academic so developed several technical syntheses • R.H. Wright Award from Simon Fraser University, Canada, in 1988; Press, London & New York, 1971, p. 178. for the rose ketones [14][15], a most impor- [17] G. Ohloff, F. Näf, R. Decorzant, W. Thom- tant group of natural rose scents discovered • Distinguished Visiting Professorship at men, E. Sundt, Helv. Chim. Acta 1973, 56, at Firmenich. the Simon Fraser University in 1989. 1414. In 1963–64, in addition to his new activ- After his retirement in June 1989 he con- [18] G. Ohloff in ‘Olfaction and Taste VII’, Ed. ity in Geneva, he taught natural product tinued his scientific explorations with em- H. van Starre, IRL Press Ltd, London & chemistry at the University of Köln. phasis on the cultural role of perfumery Washington DG, 1980. During the following years and after throughout the history, art and literature of [19] G. Ohloff, ‘Riechstoffe und Geruchsinn. having taken over the direction of Scientif- mankind. In his native, German language, Die molekulare Welt der Düfte’, Springer- ic Research from Max Stoll in 1968, he which he masters like a poet, he summarised Verlag, Berlin, 1990; English version: G. concentrated his research on ambergis type his findings and insights in three books: Ohloff, ‘Scent and Fragrances’, translated ‘Riechstoffe und Geruchsinn. Die moleku- by W. Pickenhagen and B.W. Lawrence, structures, in particular the relationship be- Springer-Verlage, Berlin, 1994. tween diastereoisomers, enantiomers and lare Welt der Düfte’ [19]; ‘Irdische [20] I. Rodriguez, C.A. Greer, M.Y. Mok, P. odour quality and intensity [2]. After a Düfte–himmlische Lust’ [25]; and very re- Mombaerts, Nature Genetics 2000, 26, 18. ® chance discovery of Polywood , a decalyl cently ‘Düfte–Signale der Gefühlswelt’[26]. [21] K. Shinohara, M. Morofushi, T. Fun- acetate [16][17], and a systematic synthesis His passion for a pleasurable life, odours, abashi, D. Mitsushima, F. Kimura, Chem- of all the other stereoisomers, which proved taste, food and wine, flowers, plants, colours ical Senses 2000, 25, 465. odourless, he postulated the ‘Triaxial Rule and shapes makes him an aesthete par excel- [22] K. Shinohara, M. Morofushi, T. Fun- of Ambergis Scent’ [2][18] which some of lence. In his home, he has not only been able abashi, F. Kimura, Chemical Senses 2001, his colleagues would call ‘dictatorship on a to maintain one of the best wine cellars, but 12, 893. molecular level’ (isomer A must smell, and he has created over the years a most presti- [23] S. Jacob, L.H. Kinnunen, J. Metz, M. isomer B is not allowed to smell!). gious collection of modern art: paintings, Cooper, M.K. McClintock, Chemical drawings and sculptures, mostly acquired Senses 2001, 12, 2391. Since one of the main targets of fra- [24] S. Jacob, M.K. McClintock, B. Zelano, C. grance research is the discovery of new from artists whom he knew personally. Ober, Nature Genetics 2002, 30, 175. odoriferous chemicals and as a continua- His liking for colourful objects influ- [25] G. Ohloff, ‘Irdische Düfte–himmlische tion of his ambergis studies, he tried to bet- enced him to such an extent that he was the Lust’, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 1992. ter understand in a broader sense the struc- first person to publish in Helv. Chim. Acta [26] G. Ohloff, ‘Düfte–Signale der Gefühls- tural, molecular properties which create using coloured formulae [27]. welt’, Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta, specific odour profiles. Profiting from his Non-conformist himself in his whole at- Zürich, 2004. extensive knowledge of known flavour and titude towards life he was always support- [27] G. Ohloff, W. Giersch, Helv. Chim. Acta 1980, 63, 76.