Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut

Portrait by Henri Serrur, 1828

Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut (French pronunciation: [ogystɛ̃ pjɛʁ dybʁœ̃fo]; Lille, 1 September 1797 – Paris, 7 October 1881[1]) was a French chemist.

Mutarotation was discovered by Dubrunfaut in 1844, when he noticed that the specific rotation of aqueous sugar solution changes with time.[2][3][4][5] In the same paper, he also identified that the inversion of sucrose in the presence of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was not a consequence of fermentation. The organic fructose molecule was subsequently discovered by Dubrunfaut in 1847.[6] He also discovered maltose, although this discovery was not widely accepted until it was confirmed in 1872 by Cornelius O'Sullivan.[7]

  1. ^ A history of chemistry, Volume 4, James Riddick Partington, MacMillan, 1961, p.731.
  2. ^ Dubrunfaut, A.-P. (1846). "Note sur quelques phénomènes rotatoires et sur quelques propriétés des sucres". Comptes Rendus. 23: 38–44.link
  3. ^ Horton, D (2008). "The Development of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biology". Carbohydrate Chemistry, Biology and Medical Applications. pp. 1–28. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-054816-6.00001-X. ISBN 9780080548166.
  4. ^ Fletcher, Hewitt G. (1940). "Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut—An early sugar chemist". Journal of Chemical Education. 17 (4): 153. Bibcode:1940JChEd..17..153F. doi:10.1021/ed017p153.
  5. ^ Battley, E (1998). "Augustin Pierre Dubrunfaut". Thermochimica Acta. 309 (1–2): 1–3. doi:10.1016/S0040-6031(97)83271-6.
  6. ^ Fruton, J.S. Molecules of Life 1972, Wiley-Interscience
  7. ^ Fruton, Joseph S (1999). Proteins, Enzymes, Genes: The Interplay of Chemistry and Biology. Chelsea, Michigan: Yale University Press. p. 144. ISBN 0300153597.