Kostanecki, Stanislaw

(b. Myszakow, Poznań province, Poland, 16 April I860; d. Würzburg, Germany, 15 November 1910)

chemistry.

Kostanecki was the oldest son of Nepomucen Kostanecki, a small landowner, and Michalina Dobrowolska. From 1871 to 1883 he attended the nonclassical secondary school in Poznań, where he studied chemistry under Teodor Krug. In 1883 Kostanecki graduated with distinction and entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Berlin. He also attended the lectures of R. H. Finkener and Liebermann at the Gewerbeakademie.

In 1884 Kostanecki became Liebermann’s assistant, with whom he jointly published two papers on azo compounds. These papers, together with those written on the compounds of the hydroxyanthraquinone group, formed the basis of the so-called Liebermann-Kostanccki rule; it stated that the only technically satisfactory dyestuffs are those hydroxyanthraquinone ones with two hydroxyl groups attached, as in alizarin. Over a two-year period in Liebermann’s laboratory, Kostanecki published thirteen scientific papers. Several were published jointly with Stefan Niementowski on cochineal dyestuffs, and others with Augustyn Bistrzycki on euxanthone.

From 1886 to 1889 Kostanecki was chef de travaux at the École de Chimie in Mulhouse. Emil Noelting, a leading dye specialist, was director of the school, and Kostanecki developed a lasting friendship with him. While he was in Mulhouse, Kostanecki experimented with derivatives of resorcinol, especially nitroso compounds, and wrote thirteen papers.

In March 1888 Kostanecki was invited to become professor of organic chemistry at the Jagielloniamn University in Cracow, but the Ministry of Education in Vienna did not consent to his appointment. On 7 May 1890, after the death of Valentin von Schüpfen Schwarzcnbach, Kostanecki accepted the chair of organic and theoretical chemistry at the University of Hern. He received his doctorate from the University of Basel in 1890 after his nomination as professor at Bern

At Bern, Kostanecki built up the chemical laboratory with the help of Mareeli Nencki, professor of physiological chemistry at the university and later director of the department of chemistry of the Institute of Experimental Medicine in St. Petersburg. During his twenty years at Bern, Kostanecki published 182 papers and supervised 161 doctoral dissertations.

Kostanecki himself did all analyses of newly discovered compounds. His research was concentrated on the structural problems of vegetable dyestuffs, especially of the flavone group. He carried out the synthesis of chrysin, trihydroxyflavonc dyes derived from Reseda luteola, fisetin, quercetin, kaempferol, galangin, and morin. He also investigated the structure of brazilin and hematoxylon. In his last years he conducted research on the structure of curcumin dyestuffs obtained from Curcuma tinctoria.

Kostanecki’s many-sided investigations on dyestuffs provided the basis for his classification of dyes and for his formulation of the relationship between the structure of compounds, their color, and dyeing ability. Among his pupils was Casimir Funk. Kostanecki died of chronic appendicitis in Würzburg Hospital and was buried in Kazimierz, near Lódź.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Most of Kostanecki’s papers were published in Berichte der Deutschen chemischen Gescll. schaft, 17-43 (1884-1910). Complete listings, with full titles, are in the obituary notice by E. Noelting in Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen naturforschenden Gesell. schaft (1911), 74-128; and in W. Lampe. “Prace ś.p. St. Kostaneckiego,” in Chemik polski, 11 . no. 2 (1911), 1-25; “Kostanecki, Stanislaw,” in Wielka encycklopedia powszechna, VI (Warsaw, 1965), 87; and Stanislaw Kosta. necki źycie i dzialalność naukowa (Warsaw, 1958).

II. Secondary Literature. On Kostanecki and his work see Gedächtnisreden für Herrn Professor Dr. St. v. Kostanecki gehalten an der Trauerfeier … (Bern, 1911);A. Bistrzycki. “Stanislaus von Kostanecki,” in Chemiker. zeitung, 142 (1910), 1261; T. Estreicher, Stanislaw Kosta. necki, wspomnienie pośmiertne (Cracow, 1910), 1-25;M. Sarnecka Keller, “Kostanecki Stanislaw,” in Polski Slownik Biograficzny, XIV (Cracow, 1969). 334-335;S. Niementowski, “Życie i naukowe prace Prof. Dr. St. Kostaneckiego,” in Kosmos, 37 (1912), 1-63; A. Szlagow. ski, “Mowa na nabozeństwie za‘obnym za duszę. ś.p. Prof. St. Kostaneckiego 1.XI1.I910 r.,” in Chemik polski, 10 (1910), 550-552; J. Tambor, “St. v. Kostanecki, Nach. ruf,” in Berichte der Deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, 45 (1912), 1683; and J. S. Turski and B. Wieęclawek, Barwniki roślinne i zwierzęce (Warsaw, 1952).

Wlodzimierz Hubicki