Walter Peters, the Peters reaction and the relation to Kurt Dehnickes works on organomercury compounds

摘要

Walter Peters discovered in 1905 (Dr. phil. nat. 1903, Strassburg), as student the formation of arylmercurychlorides from arylsulfinates and HgCl _2 by SO_2 extrusion. At that time he worked in Arthur Hantzsch's Laboratory of Chemistry of Leipzig University. The biography of Walter Peters is described and the meaning of this discovery is discussed in connection with early works of Kurt Dehnicke as well as the importance of the Peters-Reaction for the synthesis of organometallic compounds.