Georg Wittig (June 16, 1897 in Berlin (Germany) - August 26, 1987) was a German chemist who reported a method for synthesis of alkenes from aldehydes and ketones using compounds called phosphonium ylides. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979.
CH3C(-)H-P-Ph3 + PhCHO → PhCH=CHCH3 + Ph3PO
Yllide Aldehyde Alkene
Wittig's contributions also include the preparation of phenyllithium and the discovery of the [1,2] and the [2,3] Wittig Rearrangements.
Wittig was well known in the chemistry community for being a consummate experimentalist and observer of chemical transformations, while caring very little for the theoretical and mechanistic underpinnings of the work he produced.
