Georg Wittig

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 in the Wittig reaction. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979.

CH₃C(-)H-P-Ph₃ + PhCHO → PhCH=CHCH₃ + Ph₃PO

Ylide (or betaine) + Aldehyde -> Alkene

Wittig's contributions also include the preparation of phenyllithium and the discovery of the 1,2-Wittig rearrangement and the 2,3-Wittig rearrangement.

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.