Charles Moureu

François Charles Léon Moureu (19 April 1863, in Mourenx – 13 June 1929, in Biarritz) was a French pharmacist and chemist.
From 1884 to 1891 he studied at the École supérieure de Pharmacie in Paris, receiving his doctorate in physical sciences in 1893. From 1891 to 1907 he worked as chief pharmacist at the Asiles de la Seine, during which time, he obtained his agrégation (1899).
From 1907 onward, he was a professor of chemical pharmacy at the École supérieure de Pharmacie in Paris, and in 1913 was named director of the laboratory of hydrological physical chemistry at the École pratique des hautes études. In 1917 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at Collège de France.
He was a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine (from 1907), Académie des sciences (1911–29) and Académie nationale de pharmacie (president 1913).

He is best known for his pioneer studies of antioxidants; his research leading to the use of antioxidants in the rubber and vegetable oil industries. In 1893 he was the first to synthesize acrylonitrile.

In 1910 he published Notions fondamentales de chimie organique, a book that was translated into English as Fundamental principles of organic chemistry (1921). Other noted works by Moureu are:

• Contribution à l'étude de l'acide acrylique et de ses dérivés (1893, doctoral thesis) – Contribution to the study of acrylic acid and its derivatives.
• Les azols, conférence faite au laboratoire de M. Friedel, 1894 – The azoles, lecture delivered at the laboratory of Charles Friedel.
• Étude théorique sur les composés pyridiques et hydropyridiques, 1894 – Theoretical study of pyridine compounds and hydropyridines.
• La chimie et la guerre, science et avenir, 1920 – Chemistry and war: science and the future.
• "Catalysis and auto-oxidation : anti-oxygenic and pro-oxygenic activity", with Charles Dufraisse (Published in English by the American Chemical Society).
• "The so-called poisoning of oxydising catalysts", with Charles Dufraisse (Published in English in 1925).
• Discours et conférences sur la science et ses applications, 1927 – Speeches and lectures on science and its applications.

• OCLC WorldCat (published works)
• HathiTrust Digital Library published works