Obituary - Professor Heinz Kropf

by Professor Ernst Schaumann, TU Clausthal, Germany

Kropf had a long association with the Thieme publishing house serving as editor and author of Houben-Weyl. He got involved in the early seventies when the original editors of the 4th Edition were no longer active and together with H.-G. Padeken managed to publish most of the remaining volumes, mainly on oxidation (Vol. IV/1a) and reduction (Vols. IV/1c,d), as well as on alcohol synthesis (Vols. VI/1a,b). Subsequently, Kropf was a member of the editorial board of the supplementary volumes of Houben-Weyl (E-series), where he edited Volume E13 and coedited the Volumes E15/1-3 on activated C=C bond systems. Kropf's superb gift to organize vast amounts of complex material into a logical and digestible order made him an excellent editor and gave an example for the other members of the board.

The choice of volumes reflects Kropf's interest in oxidation and peroxide chemistry. This interest goes back to his Diplom thesis with G. O. Schenck at the University of Göttingen in 1951 and was continued in the PhD. work at the then Institute of Mining in Clausthal (now Technical University of Clausthal) with Heinrich Hock, who is best known for the discovery of the simultaneous synthesis of acetone and phenol from cumene hydroperoxide ('Hock reaction'), but had Kropf work on aldehyde oxidation with peracetic acid. For his habilitation, Kropf continued to work on oxidation reactions, now of hydrocarbons, and became Privatdozent in 1960. Kropf then gathered industrial experience in the German oil industry working in the central laboratory unit of DEA (German Crude-Oil Company). In 1964, Kropf joined the chemistry faculty of the University of Hamburg as lecturer of organic chemistry, and became professor in 1966. During his first years in Hamburg, Kropf also taught Chemical Technology at the University of Kiel.

Until his retirement in 1992, Kropf maintained an active research program mentoring many doctoral students. Throughout his career, Kropf authored and coauthored more than 100 research papers focusing on the chemistry of organic peroxides and on catalysis of oxidation reactions by phthalocyanines. Kropf also held seven patents. In 1990, his work was honored by the Marin-Drinov medal of the Bulgarian Academy of Science.