Nagai Nagayoshi

Nagayoshi Nagai (Japanese:长 井 长 义; born August 8, 1844 County Myodo, Awa Province, † February 10, 1929 in Tokyo, Japan ) was a Japanese organic chemist and pharmacologist. The best known were his studies on ephedrine.

Early life

Nagai was in the district Myodo the province of Awa (now Tokushima prefecture) as the son of a doctor and started in 1864 a study of rangaku - medicine ( western medicine ) on the Dutch medical school in Nagasaki (医学 伝 习 所, Igaku Denshūsho; precursor of the medical faculty Nagasaki University ). During his stay in Nagasaki, he made ​​the acquaintance of Lee- Okubo, Itō Hirobumi and other future leaders of the government in Meiji.

Career

Abroad

Nagai continued his studies at the University of Tokyo and received his first doctorate of pharmacy in Japan. He was sent with the financial support of the Government in 1871 to Prussia to study at the University of Berlin. He was the only civilian in a group of military students, who was sent for his studies to the UK and France. In addition, he traveled to the United States. During his time in Berlin, he lived in the home of the Japanese diplomats Aoki Shuzo. He was greatly influenced by the teachings of August Wilhelm von Hofmann and received a doctorate with a thesis on eugenol as an assistant in the laboratory of Hofmann. He decided in 1873 to take up work in organic chemistry.

Research and work in Japan

Nagai returned to Japan in 1883 to accept a position at the University of Tokyo, and became in 1893 professor of chemistry and pharmacy. His research focused on the chemical analysis of different methods of traditional Japanese and Chinese herbal medicine.

Family

During his time in Germany Nagai married Therese Schumacher, the daughter of a wealthy timber and mining magnate. In their joint return to Japan, she became a professor of German at the Japan Women's University. There she was particularly striving to spread the German cuisine and culture in Japan. 1923 took Nagai and his wife, Albert Einstein and his wife to live with him, as these were staying in Japan. Nagai Nagai son Alexander served as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in Berlin until the end of World War II.

Professional Achievements

As the first president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (English for Nihon Yakugakukai, " Japanese Pharmaceutical Company") had Nagai a significant impact on the spread of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences during the Japanese industrialization. In 1885 he succeeded the initial isolation of ephedrine from the ephedra by identifying the substance as the active component of the plant. In 1893 he synthesized methamphetamine from ephedrine, which could be later synthesized in crystalline form in 1919 by Akira Ogata. In 1902 he isolated rotenone from the Tubawurzel, 1929, the synthesis and structural elucidation of ephedrine.