Kekulé von Stradonitz, Friedrich August

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Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz (frē´drĬkh ou´gŏŏst kā´kōōlā fən shträ´dōnĬts), 1829–96, German organic chemist. He was professor at Ghent (1858–65) and at Bonn from 1865. He made studies of various carbon compounds, especially benzene, for the molecular structure of which he developed the ring theory. This theory is of fundamental importance to modern chemistry.