Hermann Kolbe in 1879. Photograph by August Brausch, Leipzig. Hermann Kolbe (1818-1884) was a German organic chemist who achieved great success in devising chemical pathways for the synthesis of organic compounds. One of these, the Kolbe reaction, was named after him. In this reaction an organic acid is reacted with an alkali metal to produce a salt. Electrolysis of this salt will produce simple hydrocarbons from the original acid. Kolbe did, however, hold firm to outdated ideas. He also criticized new ideas, such as vigorously abusing Kekule's (correct) theories on the structure of carbon compounds.