Diels, Otto Paul Hermann, 1876–1954, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1899. From 1899 to 1915, Diehls was on the faculty at the Univ. of Berlin. In 1916, he joined the Univ. of Kiel, where he was professor until he retired in 1945. Diels received the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kurt Alder for their discovery and development of the diene synthesis. Known as the Diels-Alder reaction, the technique required no reagents or catalysts and could be carried out without high temperatures or pressures. The Diels-Alder reaction provided the chemical foundation for the production of a number of materials, including synthetic rubber, plastics, and polymers.
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