He studied chemistry at the Technical University of Stuttgart with Hermann von Fehling and at the University of Munich with Emil Erlenmeyer. After serving in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 he became assistant professor, and after the death of Fehling in 1883, professor for chemistry at the Technical University of Stuttgart. He supervised the building of the new laboratory which was finished in 1895/96. His research interests have been dicarboxylic acids, aliphatic hydrocarbons and their synthesis. He synthesized the C₆₀H₁₂₂ showing that carbon chains of up to 60 atoms are possible. Due to an eye illness he asked for retirement in 1914.

• H. Kauffmann (1927). "Carl Magnus von Hell". Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft (A and B Series). 60 (3): 54–59. doi:10.1002/cber.19270600343.