Paul Wilhelm Karl Rothemund (January 13, 19041970) was a chemist who developed reactions related to porphyrins.[1] The Rothemund reaction the still-classic process for the synthesis of these compounds is named for him. His grandson Paul W. K. Rothemund is also a chemist.
Rothmund worked in the lab of Hans Fischer in Germany prior to being recruited by Charles F. Kettering in 1930 to come to Antioch College to study photosynthesis and chlorophyll.[1] In addition to being full professor at Antioch, he was affiliated with Ohio State University, ultimately becoming head of the chemistry department at the OSU Lima campus.[1]
In addition to his own porphyrin work, Rothemund had graduate students who studied other pyrrole-based structures, including a project that demonstrated the macrocyclic nature of hexahydroporphine.[1] That aspect is key to later interest in them as molecular containers for ion transport and molecular switches.[2]