science · 27 February 1856 · 168 years ago
birth
Born 27 Feb 1856; died 21 Mar 1917 at age 61.
German chemist who developed procaine (1905), also known by its tradename as Novocain, while working with the research group of Adolf von Baeyer at the University of Munich. It provided an alternative to cocaine (and its addictive properties), then used as a local anaesthetic. Because Novocain sometimes caused allergic reactions, it was superceded by lidocaine, first created by Nils Löfgren, was introduced in 1943. Chemically, the generically-named procaine is the mono-hydrochloride of para-amino-benzoyldiethyl-amino-ethanol. U.S. patent No. 812,554 was issued to Einhorn on 13 Feb 1906, assigned to the manufacturer. With the outbreak of hostilities in WW I, three American companies were authorized to synthesize procaine under the patent after Congress passed the Trading with the Enemy Act.
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