Kazan School of Chemistry- the generally accepted name of the scientific trend that appeared at the Kazan Imperial University at the beginning of the 19th century.
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Pre-research period
In 1804, the Russian Emperor Alexander I established a university on the basis of the Kazan Gymnasium, thereby establishing the first institution of higher education in the Russian province. Initially, Kazan University was approved as part of the following departments:
Already in the first year of the existence of Kazan University, Feodor Leontyevich (Friedrich Gavriil) Evest was approved as an adjunct, without an exact indication of the department, but with an instruction to read chemistry and pharmacology. However, Evest, at a meeting of the Academic Council of the university, said that he could not give lectures in chemistry, since there was no equipment at all, and the students were not even close to being prepared to listen to lectures. As a result, Evest had to go through with the students "Definition of natural bodies in general, their division into organic and lifeless", zoology and mineralogy.
F. L. Evest, the founder of the chemical laboratory and the first teacher of chemistry at Kazan University, died on the night of October 26, 1809. Until 1811, when Ivan Ivanochi Dunaev was appointed adjunct assistant in chemistry, there was no teaching of chemistry.
The next teacher was to be Johann Friedrich Wuttig (1783-1850), introduced to the post of associate professor of chemistry, pharmacy and technology. Wuttig was devoted to a practical matter, financially advantageous. He wrote an essay "On the preparation of sulfuric acid" with the addition of all the drawings and precise instructions to the original method of obtaining sulfuric acid. In 1809, he participated in an expedition to the southern and middle Urals, where he discovered several minerals. He never started teaching chemistry proper, but he lectured on chemical technology, trying to put his studies in the best possible way: for example, he visited factories and plants with students. During his stay in Kazan, he wrote several articles of a mineralogical nature, after which in 1810 he left for St. Petersburg, then for Berlin, leaving teaching in Kazan.
In 1811, I.I. Dunaev was appointed to Kazan University "for improvement in the rank of master in chemistry and technology", but "improvement" was difficult, since Evest died last year, and Wuttig left his duties, not really starting. Dunaev himself began to lecture on chemistry, as well as pharmacy and Latin. In 1821, I.I. Dunaev delivered a speech "On the benefits and abuses of the natural sciences and the need to base them on Christian piety", in which, in particular, he noted the following: "The only source of knowledge is the written Word of God, which truly is , those verbs, which are the spirit and the life are; this light of Christ, enlightening every person, is faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world ... ".
In 1823, the natural scientist Adolf Yakovlevich Kupfer was appointed second teacher, who from 1824 began to teach chemistry, physics and mineralogy. Kupfer performed the first air analysis in Kazan, studied Pb-Hg systems, and inspected Ural factories. In 1828 Kupfer was elected an academician to Petersburg and left Kazan.
By the time he received his diploma, Alexander Arbuzov already had his first independent scientific work to his credit - the synthesis of tertiary alcohols by the combined action of halide alkyl and zinc on ketones.
The first printed work of Arbuzov was called “From the chemical laboratory of Kazan University. About allylmethylphenylcarbinol by Alexander Arbuzov. It followed from it that Alexander Arbuzov, independently of Grignard, carried out the reaction known today as the "Grignard reaction" - organomagnesium synthesis.
Arbuzov was the first Russian chemist to use organomagnesium compounds in the practice of organic synthesis. But organometallic compounds are now used in many roles: as organic synthesis reagents, as bactericides, polymerization catalysts in the production of plastics and rubbers, and the like.
Having received an invitation to take the post of chief analytical chemist in the famous imperial Nikitsky wine-making garden in the Crimea, Alexander Erminingeldovich was ready to go south, but due to the political situation that developed in 1900, appointments to the border regions, including the Crimea, were canceled. Arbuzov decided to enter the Petrovsky-Razumovsky Agricultural Institute in Moscow. Graduates of Kazan University were admitted immediately to the third year.
The chemical laboratory of the institute was well equipped: it had gas and a water supply system with water pressure, which ensured the operation of a water jet pump. F. F. Selivanov became the head of Arbuzov. Alexander
Ermingeldovich introduced many practical techniques into laboratory practice, which are still used all over the world.
He chose organic phosphorus compounds for his dissertation. Alexander Arbuzov noted that some chemists considered phosphorous acid tribasic with a symmetrical arrangement of hydroxyl groups at the trivalent phosphorus atom, while others considered it dibasic with two hydroxyl groups at the pentavalent phosphorus atom. And Arbuzov decided to find a solution in the field of organic derivatives of phosphorous acid, primarily in the form of its esters. He began looking for compounds capable of producing characteristic crystalline derivatives of trivalent phosphorus.
In 1903, the first work on the stated topic appeared in the Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. The article was titled "On compounds of copper hemihalides with esters of phosphorous acid".
In 1905, the work of the chemist was published, where all the results on the dissertation topic were collected. The defense took place in the same year. Master of Chemistry Arbuzov, thanks to the work "On the structure of phosphorous acid and its derivatives", became widely known in professional circles.
In 1906, Arbuzov was awarded the Zinin-Voskresensky Prize for this work.
In the same 1906, Alexander Arbuzov headed the Department of Organic Chemistry and Agricultural Chemical Analysis at the Novo-Alexandria Institute.
The next important work of the scientist was the catalytic decomposition of arylhydrazones by means of copper salts (“Fischer-Arbuzov reaction”). Now this reaction is used in industry to obtain a number of indole derivatives (it is used for the synthesis of medicines).
In 1910, Arbuzov traveled abroad again, this time with Adolf von Bayer.
In 1911, Arbuzov became the head of a department at Kazan University (with the condition that he write and defend his doctoral dissertation within three years). The dissertation was entitled “On the phenomena of catalysis in the field of transformations of some phosphorus compounds. Experimental study".
Arbuzov introduced many innovations into the technique of laboratory work: a device for distillation under vacuum, improved gas burners, acquired new types of laboratory reagents and equipment for reflux. A large number of dishes were made for the laboratory, some of which were made according to Arbuzov's sketches.
In 1915, Arbuzov was finally approved as a professor.
During the First World War, Arbuzov established cooperation with the chemical plant of the Krestovnikov brothers, where he led the phenol salicylic production.
In 1943, Arbuzov personally developed and improved the method for obtaining dipyridyl, and also led a group of scientists to develop some secret questions.
In the post-war years, Academician Arbuzov headed the IOKHAN, established in 1959 in Kazan.
1952 - VI Mendeleev reader. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 2-6 convocations (1946-1966).
Beketov Nikolai Nikolaevich (1827 - 1911)
Beketov Nikolai Nikolaevich - Russian physical chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886), one of the founders of physical chemistry and chemical dynamics, laid the foundations for the principle of aluminothermy. He was educated at the First St. Petersburg Gymnasium; in 1844 he entered St. Petersburg University, but from the third year he transferred to Kazan University, from which he graduated in 1849 with a degree in natural sciences.
After graduating from Kazan University, he worked for N. N. Zinin. Since 1855 he was an adjunct in chemistry, in 1859-1887 he was a professor at Kharkov Imperial University. In 1865 he defended his doctoral thesis "Research on the phenomena of displacement of some metals by others." In 1886 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he worked in an academic chemical laboratory and taught at the Higher Women's Courses. In 1887-1889 he taught chemistry to the heir to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II.
In 1890 he taught at the Moscow University the course "Basic Principles of Thermochemistry".
Beketov discovered the displacement of metals from their solutions by hydrogen salts under pressure and found that magnesium and zinc at high temperatures displace other metals from their salts. In 1859-1865. showed that at high temperatures aluminum reduces metals from their oxides. Later, these experiments served as the starting point for the emergence of aluminothermy.
A huge merit of Beketov is the development of physical chemistry as an independent scientific and educational discipline. Back in 1860, in Kharkov, Beketov taught the course "The relationship of physical and chemical phenomena to each other", and in 1865 - the course "Physical chemistry". In 1864, at the suggestion of Beketov, a physical and chemical department was established at the university, where, along with lecturing, a workshop on physical chemistry was introduced and physical and chemical research was carried out. Beketov's students were A.P. Eltekov, F.M. Flavitsky, I.P. Osipov and others.
Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich (1833 - 1887)
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was born in St. Petersburg.
Already in childhood, he discovered musical talent, at the age of 9 he wrote his first work - the polka "Helen". He studied playing musical instruments - at first on the flute and piano, and from the age of 13 - on the cello. At the same time he created the first serious piece of music - a concerto for flute and piano.
At the age of 10, he became interested in chemistry, which over the years turned from a hobby into his life's work.
In the summer of 1850, Borodin passed the matriculation exams at the First St. Petersburg Gymnasium, and in September of the same year, the seventeen-year-old "merchant" Alexander Borodin entered the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy as a volunteer, from which he graduated in December 1856. While studying medicine, Borodin continued to study chemistry under the guidance of N. N. Zinin.
Since 1864, Borodin has been an ordinary professor, since 1874 - the head of a chemical laboratory, and since 1877 - an academician of the Medico-Surgical Academy. Since 1883 - an honorary member of the Society of Russian Doctors. A.P. Borodin is a student and closest collaborator of the outstanding chemist Nikolai Zinin, with whom in 1868 he became a founding member of the Russian Chemical Society.
Author of more than 40 papers in chemistry. It was A.P. Borodin who discovered a method for obtaining bromine-substituted hydrocarbons by the action of bromine on silver salts of acids, known as the Borodin-Hunsdicker reaction, was the first in the world (in 1862) to obtain an organofluorine compound - benzoyl fluoride, conducted a study of acetaldehyde, described the aldol and the chemical reaction of the aldol condensation.
A.P. Borodin is also considered one of the founders of the classical genres of symphony and quartet in Russia. Borodin's first symphony, written in 1867 and published simultaneously with the first symphonic works by Rimsky-Korsakov and P. I. Tchaikovsky, laid the foundation for the heroic-epic direction of Russian symphonism. The composer's Second ("Bogatyr") Symphony written in 1876 is recognized as the pinnacle of Russian and world epic symphonism.
Among the best chamber instrumental works are the First and Second Quartets, presented to music lovers in 1879 and 1881.
Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov (1828 - 1886)
Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov was born in September 1828 in the city of Chistopol, the former Kazan province. In 1844 he entered Kazan University. Butlerov was attracted to chemistry by Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin, who taught a course in organic chemistry and under whose guidance practical classes were conducted in the laboratory. Soon Zinin moved to St. Petersburg, and the novice scientist was left without a leader.
Russian chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (since 1874), chairman of the Department of Chemistry of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (1878-1882), honorary member of many scientific societies. Born in 1828 in Chistopol, in 1849 he graduated from Kazan University. He worked there: from 1857 - professor, in 1860 and 1863 - rector. Since 1868 professor at St. Petersburg University.
A.M. Butlerov is the creator of the theory of the chemical structure of organic substances, which underlies modern chemistry. The main provisions of this theory were first set forth in the report "On the Chemical Structure of Substances" at the Congress of German Naturalists in September 1861.
A.M. Butlerov conducted a large number of experiments confirming the theory of structure put forward by him.
Predicted and explained (1864) the isomerism of many organic compounds, including two isomeric butanes and three pentanes. Received tert-butyl alcohol and its homologues, having discovered the class of tertiary alcohols, as well as other isomeric alcohols up to amyl (C5) inclusive.
Carried out the first complete synthesis of a sugary substance (1861).
Studying (1861) the polymerization of vinyl bromide CH2=CHBr and some other vinyl monomers, he gave a modern interpretation of the terms "polymer" and "polymerization".
In 1862 he proposed a tetrahedral model of the carbon atom.
In the 1870s, he applied his ideas to the study of reversible isomeric transformations (tautomerism). Wrote "Introduction to the complete study of organic chemistry" (1864) - the first manual in the history of science based on the theory of chemical structure.
He created a school of Russian chemists, which included V.V. Markovnikov, A.M. Zaitsev, E.E. Wagner, A.E. Favorsky, I.L. Kondakov and others.
Zaitsev Alexander Mikhailovich (1841 - 1910)
A student of A. M. Butlerov. After graduating from Kazan University, he worked (1862-1865) in the laboratories of A. V. G. Kolbe and S. A. Wurtz. In 1870 he defended his doctoral dissertation "A new way of converting fatty acids into their corresponding alcohols" and was approved as an extraordinary, and in 1871 - an ordinary professor at Kazan University.
Zaitsev's research contributed to the development and strengthening of Butlerov's theory. From 1870, Zaitsev conducted research on saturated alcohols, and developed a general method for their synthesis by the reduction of fatty acid chlorides with sodium amalgam. In particular, he obtained normal primary butyl alcohol, the existence of which was predicted by structural theory. In 1873 Zaitsev synthesized diethylcarbinol by the action of zinc on a mixture of ethyl iodide and formic ethyl ether. This work laid the foundation for the research of the French chemists F. Barbier, F. Grignard and others (see also Grignard reaction).
In 1885 Zaitsev proposed a new method for the synthesis of tertiary saturated alcohols by the action of zinc on a mixture of an alkyl halide and a ketone. In 1875-1907 Zaitsev synthesized a number of unsaturated alcohols. The synthesis methods developed by Zaitsev and his students with the help of halogen-organozinc compounds made it possible to obtain a large number of saturated and unsaturated alcohols and their derivatives. Together with his students, Zaitsev synthesized a number of unsaturated hydrocarbons (butylene, diallyl, etc.).
Of particular great theoretical importance are Zaitsev's studies on the order of addition of the elements of hydrogen halides (HX) to unsaturated hydrocarbons and the elimination of HX from alkyl halides ("Zaitsev's Rule"). A number of works by Zaitsev and his students are devoted to polyhydric alcohols and oxides, the preparation of unsaturated acids, hydroxy acids and lactones - a class of organic compounds discovered by Zaitsev in 1873. Zaitsev brought up a large school of chemists (E. E. Wagner, A. E. Arbuzov, S. N Reformatsky, A. N. Reformatsky, I. I. Kanonnikov and others).
New synthesis of alcohols, "Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society", 1874. v. 6, p. 122 (with E. E. Wagner);
On the question of the order of addition and separation of elements of hydrogen iodide in organic compounds, ibid. 1875, v. 7. p. 289-93;
Course of organic chemistry, Kazan, 1890-92.
Zinin Nikolai Nikolaevich (1812 - 1880)
Zinin Nikolai Nikolaevich in Shusha (Elizavetpol province), where his father, Nikolai Ivanovich Zinin, was on a diplomatic mission.
In 1830 he came to Kazan, and entered the mathematical department of the philosophical (later physical and mathematical) faculty as a state student (students who did not have the means to study; they lived at the university and upon graduation were obliged to serve in the public service for 6 years). Leading professors soon drew attention to him: the rector of the university, mathematician N. I. Lobachevsky, the astronomer I. M. Simonov, and the trustee of the university M. N. Musin-Pushkin.
Zinin graduated from the university in 1833 and received a candidate's degree and a gold medal for the submitted essay "On the perturbations of the elliptical motion of the planets", after which he was left at Kazan University to teach physics, and from 1834 he was also entrusted with teaching mechanics. From 1835, Zinin also taught a course in theoretical chemistry. The history of this appointment is interesting. As can be seen from the above, Zinin was not specifically interested in chemistry, he taught mathematical sciences, and considered himself primarily a mathematician. The rector of the university, Lobachevsky, decided that a talented young scientist would be able to bring the department of chemistry to a level worthy of such an educational institution. Zinin bowed to Lobachevsky and did not dare to refuse him, as a result, Russian science received a brilliant chemist, the founder of a scientific school.
After the transformation of the university in 1837, he was appointed adjunct in the department of chemistry, and in the spring of the same year, at the request of Musin-Pushkin, he was sent to study abroad. First, Zinin went to Berlin, where he studied chemistry with E. Mitscherlich and Rose (two well-known chemists brothers Heinrich and Gustav Rose worked in Germany at that time), while studying with K. Ehrenberg, T. Schwann and Johann Müller; then he worked in other laboratories of outstanding scientists of that time: in Paris with Jules-Theophile Peluza, in London with M. Faraday, for more than a year (1839-1840) in Giessen with Professor J. Liebig.
Zinin's first article was published in Liebig's Annalen, in 1839 Zinin reported on a new method he had found for converting bitter almond oil into benzoin,
In 1841, Zinin was approved as an extraordinary professor in the department of technology. He remained in Kazan until 1847, when he received an invitation to serve in St. Petersburg as a professor of chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Academy, where he worked first as an ordinary professor (1848-1859), then as an academician (since 1856), honored professor (1864-1869), then "director of chemical works" (1864-1874)
In 1868, together with D. I. Mendeleev, N. A. Menshutkin, and others, he organized the Russian Chemical Society and for ten years was its president (until 1878).
Markovnikov Vladimir Vasilyevich (1837 - 1907)
Russian chemist Vladimir Vasilyevich Markovnikov was born on December 13 (25), 1837 in the village. Knyaginino, Nizhny Novgorod province, in the family of an officer. He studied at the Nizhny Novgorod Noble Institute, in 1856 he entered Kazan University at the Faculty of Law. At the same time, he attended lectures by A. M. Butlerov on chemistry, passed a workshop in his laboratory. After graduating from the university in 1860, Markovnikov, on the recommendation of Butlerov, was left as a laboratory assistant in the university chemical laboratory, from 1862 he lectured. In 1865
Markovnikov received a master's degree and was sent to Germany for two years, where he worked in the laboratories of A. Bayer, R. Erlenmeyer and G. Kolbe. In 1867 he returned to Kazan, where he was elected assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. In 1869 he defended his doctoral dissertation and in the same year, in connection with Butlerov's departure to St. Petersburg, he was elected professor. In 1871, Markovnikov, together with a group of other scientists, in protest against the dismissal of Professor P.F. Lesgaft, left Kazan University and moved to Odessa, where he worked at Novorossiysk University. In 1873, Markovnikov received a professorship at Moscow University.
The main scientific works of Markovnikov are devoted to the development of the theory of chemical structure, organic synthesis and petrochemistry. On the example of butyric acid of fermentation, which has a normal structure, and isobutyric acid, Markovnikov in 1865 for the first time showed the existence of isomerism among fatty acids. In the master's thesis "On the isomerism of organic compounds" (1865). Markovnikov established a number of regularities concerning the dependence of the direction of reactions of substitution, elimination, double bond addition, and isomerization on the chemical structure (in particular, Markovnikov's rule). Markovnikov also showed the features of double and triple bonds in unsaturated compounds, consisting in their greater strength compared to single bonds, but not in the equivalence of two or three simple bonds.
Markovnikov actively advocated the development of the domestic chemical industry. Markovnikov's works on the history of science are of great importance; he, in particular, proved the priority of A. M. Butlerov in creating the theory of chemical structure. On his initiative, the Lomonosov Collection was published (1901), dedicated to the history of chemistry in Russia. Markovnikov was one of the founders of the Russian Chemical Society (1868). From the laboratory, which he equipped at Moscow University, many world-famous chemists came out: M. I. Konovalov, N. M. Kizhner, I. A. Kablukov and others.
Almost simultaneously with the revival of chemical life in St. Petersburg, a new chemical center was born in Kazan, which in the near future was destined to play an outstanding role in the development of both Russian and world chemical science.
Almost simultaneously with the revival of chemical life in St. Petersburg, a new chemical center was born in Kazan, which in the near future was destined to play an outstanding role in the development of both Russian and world chemical science. At Kazan University, from its very foundation in 1804, teaching and the general state of chemistry were for many years at a very low level. Suffice it to say that in 1827, i.e., 23 years after the founding of the university and 21 years after the first primitive chemical laboratory was set up, the entire cost of laboratory property, including laboratory furniture, was estimated at 266 rubles. silver. In this state of affairs, there could be no question not only of setting up scientific experiments in chemistry, but also of any satisfactory teaching of chemistry. Perhaps the best illustration of the sad state of teaching chemistry at Kazan University at that time can serve as a speech delivered on January 17, 1821 at the annual act by one of the first professors of chemistry, I. I. Dunaev, on the topic: “On the benefits and abuses of the natural sciences and the need to base them on Christian piety.
In 1835, a new university charter was introduced at Kazan University, I. I. Dunaev was dismissed, as the order says, "because of the reform." Following this, events took place in the chemical life of Kazan University, which were the beginning of the flourishing of chemistry at Kazan University. In 1835, the teaching of chemistry was entrusted to a young candidate of sciences, a pupil of the Kazan University-P. P. Zinin, and in 1837 K. K. Klaus was invited to the Department of Chemistry. As a result of the tireless scientific activity of these two outstanding scientists, the rapidly formed Kazan school of chemistry rose to a height unprecedented for a modest provincial university, and subsequently, with the brilliant works of the famous student of P.P. Zinin, A.M. Butlerov, she covered herself with world fame for all time .
Shortly before the introduction of the new charter, the construction of a special building of the chemical laboratory began at Kazan University. The building, which has survived almost unchanged to this day, was built during 1834-1837. architect Korinfsky under the direct supervision of a brilliant geometer and permanent rector of the university for almost twenty years P. I. Lobachevsky. The new chemical laboratory, supplied by that time with a sufficient amount of platinum and glassware, chemicals, apparatus and instruments, undoubtedly contributed to the development of chemical research at the university. In this new chemical laboratory, K. K. Klaus and N. N. Zinin carried out their remarkable research and discoveries.
There is no opportunity, even briefly, to present the scientific works of K. K. Klaus, who worked almost exclusively in the field of inorganic chemistry. However, I cannot but recall that more than 100 years ago, in the chemical laboratory of Kazan University, in the platinum residues of the Ural ore / K. K. Klaus, an element unknown until that time was discovered, which was called “ruthenium”.
N. N. Zinin. The outstanding scientific and scientific-social activity of N. N. Zinin (1812-1880) deserves detailed consideration.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Zinin was born on August 25, 1812 in Transcaucasia, in the county town of Shusha, formerly. Elizavetpol province, near the Persian border. He lost his parents at an early age and was soon transferred to Saratov to his uncle, where he received his secondary education at the gymnasium. After a brilliant graduation from the gymnasium, Zinin's uncle proposed to send his nephew to the St. Petersburg Institute of Communications. The sudden death of my uncle prevented the realization of this intention. Short of funds, N. N. Zinin had to move to Kazan, where he entered the university in 1830 at the mathematical department of the Physics and Mathematics, or, as it was then called, the Faculty of Philosophy.
Zinin brilliantly graduated from the university in 1833 with a Ph. The outstanding abilities of N. N. Zinin attracted the attention of the college of professors and the rector of the university N. N. Lobachevsky. Zinin was left at the university (and already in November of the same year, 1833, he was first entrusted with tutoring in physics, and from March
1834 - teaching of analytical mechanics, hydrostatics and hydraulics. The teaching of these sciences to young scientists who had barely reached the age of 22 was very successful, as evidenced by the gratitude rendered by the University Council to N. N. Zinin.
In 1835, the scientific path of N. N. Zinin changed dramatically: instead of the mathematical sciences, N. N. Zinin was entrusted with the teaching of chemistry. The reasons for this change are not entirely clear. It is possible that one of the main reasons was the unsatisfactory state of teaching chemistry. Even before his official appointment to the Department of Chemistry, Zinin filed a petition for admission to the exams for a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. In April
In 1835, he began his master's examinations and passed them brilliantly. It is worthy of surprise how he, being so busy teaching many mathematical disciplines, could prepare in such a short time for tests, which, as official protocols testify, were carried out with great rigor.
During the year, Zinin wrote a dissertation for a master's degree in natural sciences on the topic set by the Faculty Council: "On the phenomena of chemical affinity and on the superiority of Berzelius's theory of constant chemical proportions over Bertolett's chemical statics" and in October 1836 us-
defended her on foot. The following year, 1837, Zinin was approved as an adjunct in chemistry and was soon sent abroad for two years with a scientific purpose.
Zinin began his scientific studies abroad in Berlin, where he studied mathematics and took courses in chemistry from famous chemists of that time - Mitcherlich and Rose. From Berlin, Zinin went to Giessen to the famous J. Liebig.
N. N. Zinin did not think of staying long in Giessen, but, having become acquainted with Liebig and his laboratory, he changed his plans and worked for a whole year with extraordinary enthusiasm and success under the guidance of Liebig himself.
Here Zinin carried out his first experimental work on classical Liebig themes on the study of derivatives of the so-called bitter almond oil, or, in other words, benzoic aldehyde. He also became well acquainted with Liebig's system of teaching chemistry and assimilated the strict and free spirit of scientific research, which deservedly brought worldwide fame to J. Liebig and the laboratory he led.
At the end of his business trip, Zinin worked for a short time in Paris with Peluz and also visited the most prominent laboratories and factories in England, Holland and Belgium.
In 1840 N. N. Zinin returned to Russia. But he did not go to Kazan, but to St. Petersburg to defend his doctoral dissertation. On January 30, 1841, he brilliantly defended his doctoral dissertation at St. Petersburg University "On compounds of benzoin and on new discovered bodies belonging to the benzoin genus."
Zinin returned to Kazan in the spring of 1841 and was soon approved as an extraordinary professor, but not in the department of chemistry, which by that time had been replaced by K. K. Klaus, but in the department of chemical technology. In fact, however, from the very beginning of his professorship, Zinin shared with Klaus the labor of teaching pure chemistry, including analytical and organic.
As for scientific studies, the conditions for them by the time Zinin returned from abroad were very favorable: the construction of a new building of the chemical laboratory had just been completed and equipped.
Simultaneously with the beginning of his professorial and teaching activities, Zinin energetically takes up experimental research, the results of which in less than a year bring him world fame: he discovers his famous reaction of converting aromatic nitro compounds into amino compounds. The first report on the newly discovered reaction was published in October 1842 in Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences. The report described the transformation of nitronaphthalene and nitrobenzene into the corresponding amino compounds, which Zinin called - the first "naphthalides", the second - "benzids". The second of the compounds obtained by Zinin - "benzydam" - was recognized by Academician Yu. F. Fritzsche as aniline, which he had obtained from indigo shortly before.
N. N. Zinin very soon realized the enormous significance of the reaction he discovered and extended his research to other aromatic nitro derivatives.
Already in 1844, he published a second article, in which he reported on the receipt of seminaphthalid (i.e., naphthylenediamine) and semibenzidam (i.e., metaphenylenediamine). The following year, 1845, Zinin reported that he had received "benzamic" acid (i.e., metaaminobenzoic acid).
Thus, with these three works, Zinin showed the generality of the reaction he discovered for the reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to amino compounds, and since then it has entered the history of chemistry and everyday laboratory use under the name "Zinin's reactions." Later, the “Zinin reaction”, somewhat modified by the French chemist Bechamp, was transferred to industry and thus laid the foundation for the development of the aniline-dye industry.
Somewhat later, Zinin carried out a number of other remarkable transformations of nitrobenzene. So, under the action of alcohol alkali on nitrobenzene, he was the first to obtain azoxybenzene; reduction of azoxybenzene
Hydraeobenzene, which under the action of acids, as shown by Zinin, experienced a remarkable rearrangement into benzidine.
Zinin's scientific discoveries are a classic example of the influence of science on the development of industry. Let me remind you that benzidine is one of the most important intermediate products of the aniline industry.
Before Zinin's work, his "benzydam" under various names was obtained from natural products. This is the "crystalline" of Unferdoben, obtained by him in 1826 during the distillation of indigo; this is the “piano” by Runge, allocated by him in 1834. in negligible quantities from coal tar; this is Fritzsche's "aniline", also obtained by complex operations from natural indigo dye. All these discoveries, made before the work of Zinin, did not and could not have influenced the origin and development of the aniline-dye industry. Only getting Mitcherlich out. nitrobenzene benzene and Zinin's production of synthetic aniline from nitrobenzene created the basis for the development of the aniline-dye industry, which led to the development of the pharmaceutical industry, the industry of explosives, fragrant substances, and many other areas of synthetic organic chemistry.
In 1847, N. N. Zinin received an offer to take a chair at the Medical and Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg. After some thought and hesitation, he decided to move to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, he spent about three years organizing a chemical laboratory, and only after that could he resume his interrupted scientific studies.
Together with his student, later a well-known thermochemist N. N. Beketov, Zinin synthesized "benzureide" and "aceturide"
The first representatives of the unknown and, as it turned out later, very
an important class of monoureides. In 1854, he carried out the synthesis of volatile mustard oil.
On May 2, 1858, Zinin was elected extraordinary, and on November 5, 1865, ordinary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. At the Academy, he was an active member of the most diverse commissions, providing great assistance, especially in resolving issues related to the knowledge of Russia.
Towards the end of his scientific activity, he again returned to the study of various transformations of bitter almond oil and, among other things, obtained hydrobenzoin, which in turn can easily be converted into benzoin.
All the works of N. N. Zinin were published in German and French, with the exception of a doctoral dissertation and work on some derivatives of lepidin. This phenomenon, incomprehensible at first glance, is explained by the fact that the works of the Academy of Sciences were usually published not in Russian, but in German or French. The first three and most important works of Zinin on the reduction of nitro compounds to amino compounds, published in the Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences, were first translated into Russian only in 1942 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of aniline and published in the journal Uspekhi Khimii in 1943. (vol. XII, no. 2).
In the extensive and fruitful scientific activity of Zinin, special attention deserves the fact that all the most complex transformations of substances grouped around benzoic aldehyde, transformations that are not unraveled in all details at the present time, were discovered and studied by him in those distant times when there was no theory of chemical structures - this thread of Ariadne in the labyrinth of organic compounds. It was necessary to penetrate into the realm of the unknown mainly with the help of "chemical instinct", that quality of the scientist-chemist, which still largely retains its strength for the organic-syntheticist.
Of great importance in the development of chemical science in our country was the scientific and social activity of Zinin, which unfolded in the early 60s in St. Petersburg. It was a time of great shifts and the awakening of self-awareness in the life of Russian society. Zinin did not stay away from the general movement. This powerful movement affected the most diverse aspects of science and art, including the development of chemical education in our country.
On the initiative of several prominent public chemists, among whom P.A. Ilyenkov, N. N. Sokolov, and A. N. Engelhardt, the first chemistry circle was formed in St. Petersburg during 1854/55. The first meetings of this circle took place in Ilyenkov's private apartment. In addition to the persons mentioned, Yu. F. Fritsshe, L. N. Shishkov, N. N. Beketov, and N. N. Zinin took an active part in the circle. The circle existed for about two years, but then, partly under pressure from outside, it had to cease to exist.
The second chemistry circle was organized in 1857 on the initiative of N. N. Sokolov and A. N. Engelhardt. The purpose of the circle was to come to the aid of the ever-increasing desire of wide circles of society to become more familiar with the successes of chemical science. Considering that for permission so; difficult task, the most effective means could only be direct acquaintance, through experiments, Sokolov and Engelhardt set up in their apartment on Galernaya Street, a private chemical laboratory (“public”), similar to the one founded in Paris in 1851 by the famous reformers of organic chemistry, French scientists Laurent and Gerard. The purpose of these remarkable undertakings in the history of chemistry was one and the same: to provide an opportunity for everyone to get acquainted with the successes of chemistry to carry out experiments, under the only condition that "this was done without embarrassment of others." The success of the laboratory of N. N. Sokolov and A. N. Engelhardt exceeded all expectations. It is quite clear that such a private institution as a chemical laboratory, if only for material reasons, could not exist for a long time. Indeed, already in 1860, i.e. three years after its foundation, the activity of the laboratory was terminated, and all the equipment was donated to St. Petersburg University, which was the beginning of a well-furnished university laboratory.
N. N. Zinin also took an active part in this second circle. Almost simultaneously with the organization of the second chemical circle and the chemical laboratory, the indefatigable pioneers of the development in the Russian society of chemical education decided to publish the first periodical chemical publication in Russia under the name: “Chemical Journal of N. N. Sokolov and A. N. Engelhardt”. The main purpose of the journal was: "to give those who are engaged in chemistry in Russia the convenience of following the modern development of science and understanding it quite clearly." The first issue of the magazine appeared in 1859.
All this wonderful page from the history of the development of chemical science in Russia marked the beginning of its flourishing. The life of the chemical circle was in full swing, the number of its members grew so much that there was an urgent need to organize a real chemical society.
At the end of December 1867 and at the beginning of January 1868, the First All-Russian Congress of Naturalists and Physicians took place in St. Petersburg. At the evening meeting of the congress on January 3, 1868, the members of the chemical department, at the suggestion of N. A. Menshutkin, decided to petition the government to establish the Russian Chemical Society. The petition was granted, the Russian Chemical Society was approved by the Minister of Public Education on October 26, 1868.
By the first meeting of the newly approved society, held on November 6, signed up; 47 members, including N. N. Zinin. At this meeting, the first scientific reports were heard; at the end of the meeting, on behalf of the young Society, gratitude was expressed to N. A. Menshutkin and D. I. Mendeleev, as they had worked especially hard in organizing it.
At the next meeting, which took place on December 5, 1868, N. N. Zinin was unanimously elected the first president of the Society; N. A. Menshutkin was elected clerk and editor of the Society’s journal, and G. A. Schmidt was elected treasurer. As president of the young N Society, N. Zinin carried out a huge and important job, chairing regular meetings, constantly participating in numerous commissions, especially on technical and chemical inventions and the application of chemistry to industry.
In the rank of president of the Russian Chemical Society, Zinin stayed permanently for 10 years. In 1878, the second five-year term of N. N. Zinin's tenure as president ended. Despite requests, he this time refused to continue to carry the high, but difficult presidency. This was two years before his death.
Summing up the scientific activity of N. N. Zinin and his influence on the development of Russian organic chemistry, it should be said that thanks to his remarkable scientific discoveries, Russian chemical science has risen to the same level as Western European.
The President of the German Chemical Society, the famous chemist and founder of the German aniline industry, A. V. Hoffmann, at a meeting of the Chemical Society on March 8, 1880, delivered a speech in which he vividly described the significance of the work of N. N. Zinin. “Today I must inform the meeting,” said Hoffmann, “of the death of one of the glorious oldest chemists, a person who had a significant and lasting influence on the development of organic chemistry. I will allow myself to recall only one discovery by Zinin, which constituted an epoch - the conversion of nitrobodies into anilines ... The alkalis described by Zinin under the name of benzidame and naphthalide-ma are those substances that now play such an important role as aniline and naphthylamine. Then, of course, it was impossible to foresee what a huge future lay ahead for the elegant method of transformation described in the article mentioned. No one could have predicted how often and with what success this important process would be applied to the study of the endless transformations of organic substances, it never occurred to anyone that a new method for obtaining anilines would eventually become the basis of a powerful industry.
“If Zinin,” Hoffmann said in conclusion, “had done nothing more than convert nitrobenzene into aniline, then even then his name would have remained written in golden letters in the history of chemistry.”1
The great importance of N. N. Zinin in the development of organic chemistry also lies in the fact that he not only organized correct practical classes in organic chemistry at Kazan University, but also, for the first time in the history of Russian chemistry, managed to attract outstanding young people to scientific research by his example and enthusiasm in organic
chemistry, thereby paving the way for the creation of the later famous Kazan school of chemists. Suffice it to say that one of the first students of Zinin in Kazan was A. M. Butlerov, who, along with D. I. Mendeleev, is the glory and pride of Russian science.
A. M. Butlerov. The scientific activity of A. M. Butlerov (1828-1886) is absolutely exceptional in its significance for the development of world chemical science. Therefore, the very personality of A. M. Butlerov deserves special attention and consideration.
Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov was born on August 25 (old style) 1828 in the city of Chistopol, Kazan province. On the eleventh day after the birth, Butlerov lost his mother, and the child was taken up by his grandfather and grandmother, the Strelkovs. Butlerov's childhood passed in the village of Podlenaya-Shantala, Chistopol district, on the estate of the Strelkovs, among the virgin forest nature, which undoubtedly was the main reason for his passionate desire to engage in the natural sciences. Butlerov's father was a kind, but weak-willed person and almost did not take part in the upbringing of his son. However, when little Butlerov began to learn to read and write and other subjects, his father constantly repeated to him that he himself must make his own way.
At the age of eight, the boy was sent to Kazan to a private boarding school, and then moved to the fourth grade of the 1st Kazan gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1844 at the age of sixteen. In the same year, A. M. Butlerov entered the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Kazan University. In view of his youth, he was not admitted to the number of full-time students, but only admitted to listening to lectures and therefore stayed in the first year for two years.,
During the first years of his stay at the university, Butlerov was very fond of botany, zoology, and especially entomology. To collect collections, he made frequent excursions to the vicinity of Kazan.
In the summer of 1847, A. M. Butlerov, together with Professor of Mineralogy P. I. Wagner, went on a large expedition to the Kyrgyz steppes. The nineteen-year-old youth showed himself to be a widely educated and observant naturalist, as evidenced by his diary, which he kept in the most accurate manner. Separate excerpts from this diary in the original are available in the Butlerov archive from the author of this essay; there is, for example, an excerpt "From the travel notes of a naturalist during a trip to the steppe of the inner Kyrgyz horde." It is remarkable that the young Butlerov was already interested in the Indersky salt lake. In the diary, entitled "Inder salt lake", not only the lake itself is described in detail, the conditions for the extraction of salt from it by the Ural Cossacks, the color of the water, etc., but the flora and fauna surrounding the lake are described (and probably collected) in great detail moreover, the description was made not in the language of an amateur naturalist, but in scientific terms and the names of a specialist, botanist and zoologist, that is, in Latin.
During the expedition, Butlerov fell ill with typhoid fever. In an almost hopeless state, he was brought by Wagner to Simbirsk, where his father was hastily summoned from Kazan. The young organism overcame the disease, but the father became infected from his son and died. Thus, Butlerov, like N. N. Zinin, was left alone, without parents.
Having recovered from illness and grief, Butlerov continued to be fond of botany and zoology for some time. However, the lectures of Klaus and Zinin changed his plans. He finally decided to devote himself to chemistry.
Carried away by everything new, he first turned his attention to the external side of chemical phenomena. According to the stories of the professor of zoology N.P. Wagner (also known for his fairy tales under the pseudonym Kota-Purrlyki), Butlerov liked to prepare beautiful crystalline substances, perform spectacular experiments with combustion, and at the end of the semester and student exams he set off fireworks. But gradually his studies in chemistry took on a more meaningful and systematic character, which, undoubtedly, was facilitated by his famous teachers - Klaus and Zinin. Subsequently, Butlerov himself, in his memoirs of N. N. Zinin, wrote: “Zinin’s deep, lively and original mind, combined with extraordinary unpretentiousness and friendliness in address, everywhere attracted young people devoted to science to him. Klaus and Zinin were remarkable experimenters, and there is no doubt that, under the guidance of such teachers, Butlerov already received thorough laboratory training as a student, which could not be said about the theoretical side of his scientific studies.
What were Butlerov's laboratory studies after Zinin moved to St. Petersburg is not known. He graduated from the university in 1849 with a Ph.
The following year, Klaus introduced Butlerov to leave at the university in preparation for a professorship. This idea was vigorously supported by the faculty and the University Council. The faculty’s resolution on this matter is remarkable in many respects, and therefore I quote from it verbatim: “The faculty, for its part, is absolutely sure that Butlerov, with his knowledge, talent, love for science and chemical research, will honor the University and deserve fame in scientific world (emphasis mine. - A.), if circumstances favor his scientific vocation. With the same faith in Butlerov, the famous Lobachevsky, who at that time was correcting the duties of a trustee of the educational district, looked at this matter.
In the autumn of the same year, 1850, A. M. Butlerov successfully passed the master's exam, and at the beginning of 1851 he submitted to the faculty his first dissertation "On the oxidation of organic compounds", after defending which he was elected an adjunct to the University Council and became a full-time teacher university. The supposed foreign business trip of A. M.
Butlerov did not take place. In 1852, Klaus moved to Derpt and the 23-year-old adjunct fell on the whole burden of teaching chemistry.
In 1854, A. M. Butlerov brilliantly passed the doctoral exam at Moscow University and defended his dissertation “On Essential Oils” for the degree of Doctor of Chemistry.
After defending his dissertation, one very important event happened in Butlerov's scientific life. From Moscow, he went to St. Petersburg to see and talk about chemical issues with his teacher P.P. Zinin. In his chemical views, Zinin at that time stood firmly on the foundations of the teachings of Laurent and Gerard. Regarding this meeting and its results, Butlerov later said: “Short conversations with P.P. Zinin during my stay in St. Petersburg were enough for this time to become an era in my scientific development. P.P. pointed out to me the significance of the teachings of Laurent and Gerard ... and advised me to be guided in teaching by the Gerard system. I followed these tips...
Returning to Kazan, Butlerov actively takes up the expansion of his scientific horizon and after some two or three years he feels so strong and mature in his theoretical views on chemical science that he comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to travel abroad in order to get acquainted with science on the spot. and scientists of Western Europe.
In 1857, A. M. Butlerov received a one-year business trip abroad and during the year visited all the best European laboratories in Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Italy. He spent most of his time in Paris, which at that time was the center of chemical science.
The main point in A. M. Butlerov's trip abroad should be considered, however, not his acquaintance with laboratories and laboratory equipment, but his meetings and direct communication with the most prominent representatives of chemical science. Fluent in European languages. Butlerov not only got acquainted, but also entered into lengthy conversations, and sometimes scientific disputes with such prominent chemists as Wurtz, Kolbe, Kekule, Bunsen, Erlenmeyer.
Butlerov went abroad not only with a solid stock of knowledge in chemistry and all the chemical literature available to him, but also with a huge stock of healthy scientific criticism of his young and clear mind. He was a scientist full of energy, eager to resolve numerous complex and controversial issues of theoretical chemistry.
Upon his return from abroad, Butlerov first of all engaged in a thorough reorganization of the university laboratory. And there was something to rearrange. There was no gas in the laboratory, all chemical operations were carried out on alcohol lamps. Organic analysis was carried out on a charcoal-heated oven. Butlerov is busy building a small gas generator inside the laboratory itself. The board releases the necessary funds, and within the shortest time the gas generator is built
huddles; it is placed under the stairs leading to the second floor: the building. Two retired soldiers are hired as gas foremen and workers. “Whoever knows what a gas explosion means,” V.V. Markovnikov notes in his memoirs on this occasion, “he will agree that we were working, as it were, on a volcano.”
Having reequipped the laboratory, Butlerov, with extraordinary energy, takes up experimental work and within a short time publishes a number of first-class studies. First of all, he successfully continues his research on the preparation and study of the properties and transformations of methylene iodide, which he obtained in the Wurtz laboratory in Paris. In 1859, Butlerov discovered the polymer of formaldehyde and gave it the name "dioxymethylene" (modern trioxymethylene). By the action of ammonia on dioxymethylene, Butlerov obtains a very interesting, complex substance, to which he gives the name "hexamethylenetetramine". Hexamethylenetetramine, under the name "urotropine", is still widely used in medicine as an anti-gout agent, for disinfection of the urinary tract and for the treatment of many other diseases.
In 1861, Butlerov makes a remarkable discovery in the history of chemistry, namely: by the action of a lime solution on dioxymethylene, he for the first time obtains by synthesis a sugary substance, which he calls "methylene-nitane." With this synthesis, he, as it were, completes a series of syntheses of the classics of organic chemistry: Weler synthesizes oxalic acid (1826) and urea (1828), Kolbe - acetic acid (1848), Skewers - fats (1854) and, finally, Butlerov - sugar (1861 ).
In the same year, for theoretical reasons, Butlerov tries to take iodine away from methylene iodide in order to obtain free methylene; but instead of methylene, he gets ethylene - a fact of great importance for the interpretation of the structure of unsaturated organic compounds.
Already these, briefly listed discoveries would be enough for Butlerov's name to forever remain in the history of chemistry as a first-class synthetic. However, all these works are only an introduction to his extensive and remarkable scientific activity.
Simultaneously with the development of Butlerov's talent as a first-class experimenter, his genius as a theoretician awakens. He criticizes the theory of types and the theory of substitutions, which were dominant at that time in the field of studying organic compounds, and comes to the conclusion that they no longer contain all the factual material.
At the same time, in the West, the brilliant ideas of Kekule and Cowper about the tetravalent nature of the carbon atom and the ability of carbon atoms to chain together seemed to hang in the air. Kekule, after he stated some of the basic propositions of the theory of chemical structure, attached secondary importance to these statements and propositions and for a long time was in the grip of Gerard's ideas. Suffice it to say that in his well-known chemistry textbook Kekule, in accordance with Gerard allows for each chemical compound several rational
real formulas. Cowper, having rejected Gerard's theory of types, and proceeding from positions somewhat opposed to those of Kekulé, also arrives at a number of basic propositions of the theory of chemical structure, and even writes many structural formulas very similar to modern ones (assuming the atomic weight of oxygen is 8); however, he does not further develop his views. And only Butlerov matures the idea of the chemical structure of organic compounds in its entirety. His theoretical reflections take a completely finished form, and he comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to exchange his new views with Western scientists.
Not without difficulty, he receives a second trip abroad and in 1861 again visits the best laboratories in Germany, Belgium and France.
On September 19, 1861, at the congress of German doctors and naturalists in the city of Speyer, Butlerov makes his famous report "On the chemical structure of bodies." He develops in a completely completed form new views on the structure of organic compounds and for the first time proposes to introduce the term "chemical structure" or "chemical structure" into chemical science, meaning by this the distribution of chemical affinity forces, or, in other words, the distribution of bonds of individual atoms that form a chemical structure. particle.
Butlerov's report and his new views on the structure of organic compounds were coldly received by German chemists, with the exception of individuals, of whom Erlenmeyer, later Wislitsenus, must be mentioned first of all. Here is the most remarkable passage from the report of A. M. Butlerov:
“If we now try to determine the chemical structure of substances and if we succeed in expressing it by our formulas, then these formulas will be, although not yet completely, but to a certain extent real rational formulas. For each body, in this sense, only one rational formula will be possible, and when certain general laws are created for the dependence of the chemical properties of a body on their chemical structure, then such a formula will be an expression of all its properties.
No matter how accurate Butlerov's just-cited formulation was regarding the relationship between the chemical properties of bodies and their structure, the actual position of this fundamental question of the theory of chemical structure was far from clear. The fact is that at that time it was considered firmly established that the existence of isomers is possible for a compound of composition C2H6. It was believed that one of them was obtained by Frankland and Kolbe by the action of metallic potassium on acetic acid nitrile, the other by Frankland by the action of zinc and water on ethyl iodide. The theory of types easily explained these amazing facts: both compounds must be assigned to the type of hydrogen, and the first compound was treated as a disubstituted type of hydrogen and represented dimethyl, the second connection was one-
substituted hydrogen type and should have been considered as ethyl hydrogen.
According to the theory of chemical structure developed by Butlerov, only one structural formula corresponds to a compound of composition C2H6, and thus it turned out that the facts seemed to contradict the new theory. Undoubtedly, this was partly the reason for the skeptical attitude of German chemists to Butlerov's report in Speyer, and perhaps, to an even greater extent, the poor development of research techniques in general.
Butlerov’s scientific credo, first of all, was that theories are needed to generalize and explain the factual material, but facts, especially new facts, should not be forced or artificially squeezed into theoretical ideas, no matter how perfect these ideas may seem.
Therefore, Butlerov was looking for a way out to explain the facts that contradicted his theory of chemical structure, namely, he made the assumption: 1) that the four "shares" (i.e., valences) of the carbon atom are arranged in the form of tetrahedral planes and 2) that these shares are different. In this case, the presence of two ethane isomers could easily be explained. Later, the famous German chemist K. Schorlemmer, a friend of K. Marx and F. Engels, through careful research proved that "hydrogen ethyl" and "dimethyl" are one and the same compound.
It is important to note here that Butlerov, for the first time in the history of chemistry, suggested the possibility of a tetrahedral structure of compounds of a carbon atom with four substituents, and Butlerov's idea was not any development of Pasteur's views on "molecular dissymmetry" and on the tetrahedral structure of optically active molecules. Later, Kekule built a "spherical" tetrahedral model of the carbon atom. “I think,” says the well-known commentator on Butlerov’s works, prof. A. I. Gorbov, - that the priority of the tetrahedral model of the carbon atom should remain with Butlerov.
Not satisfied with the development of the provisions of the theory of chemical structure, Butlerov comes to the conclusion that for the success of the new doctrine, it is necessary to obtain new facts arising from it. Therefore, soon after returning to Kazan, he began extensive experimental research, the main result of which was, first of all, the famous Butler synthesis of trimethylcarbinol, the first representative of tertiary alcohols. This synthesis laid the foundation for, one might say, an endless series of syntheses, which, being modified and transformed, go back to our days. Young chemists of today are hardly able to imagine what experimental difficulties had to be overcome in the development of these syntheses under the conditions in which Butlerov worked, when there was no real traction in the laboratory, when there was often no suitable utensils, when everything had to be done by oneself : and self-ignition
organozinc compounds that explode at the slightest mistake, and the asphyxiating gas phosgene, and much more.
Butlerov's discovery of an unknown class of tertiary alcohols, predicted by the theory of chemical structure, was undoubtedly of great importance for the strengthening and recognition of the new doctrine. True, the existence of three classes of alcohols was predicted by Kolbe on the basis of a peculiar theory of substitution, but his brilliant predictions and their actual confirmation could not defend Kolbe's positions. On the contrary, the preparation of trimethylcarbinol to strengthen the theory of chemical structure was almost as important as the discovery of unknown elements predicted by Mendeleev to strengthen and recognize the periodic law.
The first synthesis of trimethylcarbinol was followed by a series of studies on the mechanism of the newly discovered reaction for obtaining tertiary alcohols, as well as the preparation of new representatives of tertiary alcohols.
In the same period of the greatest development of his talent, Butlerov began to publish his famous textbook "Introduction to the full study of organic chemistry." The first issue of this textbook appeared in 1864, the entire edition was completed in 1866.
The publication of the Introduction in Russian was followed by its translation into German. The translation was made by Resh, a teacher at the Kazan Agricultural School, and published in Leipzig in 1867. The appearance of the "Introduction" in German contributed to the spread of Butlerov's views among foreign chemists, because the "Introduction" was the first case in world chemical literature when the theory of chemical structure was consistently carried out through all the most important classes of organic compounds. Ernst von Meyer, the well-known author of the History of Chemistry, spoke about the Introduction and Butlerov’s role in the development of the theory of chemical structure as follows: “Butlerov had a particularly strong influence (on the dissemination of the theory of chemical structure among chemists. - A.) with his Textbook of Organic Chemistry, published in German in 1868. It is remarkable that these words were spoken by Kolbe's longtime collaborator, who remained an opponent of Butlerov's views until the end of his days.
All the capital theoretical and experimental works of Butlerov that we have considered refer to the Kazan period of his activity.
In August 1867, A. M. Butlerov went abroad for the third time, where he began to improve his health and edit the German edition of the Introduction.
In May 1868, at the suggestion and motivated submission of D. I. Mendeleev, Butlerov was elected an ordinary professor at St. Petersburg University. Butlerov agreed to this proposal. Butlerov returned from abroad in August and until December of the same year, 1868, remained in Kazan, finishing teaching.
After moving to St. Petersburg, Butlerov, first of all, took up the reorganization of the university laboratory and, with his characteristic energy, soon
he made a number of experimental works in it, which are a continuation of the Kazan ones. At the same time, he took an active part in the newly established Russian Chemical Society, and at a meeting on February 6, 1869, he was elected a member of the Society.
At the beginning of 1869, an important event took place in the history of the development of Russian chemical science: on February 10, the newly established Russian Chemical Society received permission from the Main Directorate for Press Affairs to publish the Journal of the Russian Chemical Society without prior censorship. Thus, Russian chemists finally got the opportunity to publish scientific research in their periodicals.
In the first, small volume of the young journal, edited by N. A. Menshutkin, 36 original works by Russian chemists were published, including the famous article by D. I. Mendeleev “Relationship of properties with the atomic weight of elements” and two articles by A. M. Butlerova: "On methylene chloride" and "On butylene from fermented butyl alcohol."
In 1870 Butlerov was elected an adjunct of the Academy of Sciences, the next year an extraordinary academician, and in 1874 ordinary academician
At the same time, Butlerov was a professor at the Higher Women's Courses and took an ardent part in the development and strengthening of higher education for women. “We must strive to ensure that in every university city there are not only higher courses, but women's departments of universities, and in all faculties”1.
In the 1970s, A. M. Butlerov began to continue the work begun in Kazan on unsaturated hydrocarbons. These works are genetically related to his first work on the study of the properties of methylene iodide and tertiary alcohols synthesized by him. His works are especially remarkable: "On isodibutylene" (1877), "On isotributylene", the study of the effect of boron fluoride on the polymerization of unsaturated hydrocarbons, especially propylene, and many others. At the same time, Butlerov does not stop developing and improving the theory of chemical structure; such, for example, are his articles: "The Modern Significance of the Theory of Chemical Structure" (1879) and "Chemical Structure and Theory of Substitution" (1882 and 1885).
A. M. Butlerov was not only a brilliant scientist, but also an outstanding public figure. Especially useful and extensive was his activity in the Free Economic Society, where he was chairman for a number of years. A. M. Butlerov was a well-known beekeeper and, as a member of the Free Economic Society, he promoted the methods of rational beekeeping with extraordinary energy. He published a number of brochures on beekeeping (for example, "The bee, its life and the main rules of intelligent beekeeping", "On measures to spread beekeeping in Russia", "How to lead bees").
The vigorous scientific and social activity of A. M. Butlerov ended abruptly. On August 5 (old style), 1886, Butlerov died at the age of 58 in the village of Butlerovka, Spassky district, Kazan province, where he was buried.
Chemical science and the Russian public suffered a grave loss. The significance of the scientific and pedagogical activity of A. M. Butlerov is enormous.
A. M. Butlerov is not only one of the founders of that scientific direction in the field of organic chemistry, which for almost 90 years has been an inexhaustible source of an endless series of discoveries that are equally of theoretical and practical importance, A. M. Butlerov - the founder of the Kazan Butlerov school of chemists, which spread its influence, one can safely say, to all scientific centers, to the entire vast expanse of our great country. Without any exaggeration, one can repeat once again that the Kazan chemical laboratory, where A. M. Butlerov carried out his most remarkable theoretical and experimental research, is truly the cradle of the Russian organic school of chemistry. For the first time, this idea was quite definitely expressed by D. I. Mendeleev in his proposal for Butlerov to occupy the Department of Organic Chemistry at St. Petersburg University. In this representation, D. I. Mendeleev wrote:
"A. M. Butlerov is one of the most remarkable Russian scientists. He is Russian both in terms of his scientific education and the originality of his works. A student of our famous academician N.N. Zinin, he became a chemist not in foreign lands, but in Kazan, where he continues to develop an independent chemical school. The direction of the scientific works of A. M. does not constitute a continuation or development of the ideas of his predecessors, but belongs to him. There is a Butler school in chemistry, a Butler trend.
What can be added to this bright, having the character of a distant forecast, definition by our brilliant scientist of the significance of the great works of A. M. Butlerov and his great discoveries? One can only add that the definition of D. I. Mendeleev retains all its force to this day.
I would like to draw attention to one more characteristic feature of A. M. Butlerov as a scientist. This peculiarity lies in the brilliant, in terms of power, completely exceptional foresight of the coming stages of science. The more you delve into his thoughts scattered over various articles, the more you are amazed at their depth and almost boundless perspective. It can be positively asserted that he foresaw, and not only foresaw, but often outlined the paths of his beloved science for many decades to come. Only extreme caution in theoretical constructions did not allow him to develop these thoughts to the extent that they could serve as new starting points for chemical science, marking a new scientific era. Here are a few examples to support what has just been said.
In the article “On Various Ways of Explaining Some Cases of Isomerism,” Butlerov writes: “It is hardly possible to join Kekule’s opinion that the position of atoms in space cannot be depicted on the plane of paper, because the position of points in space is expressed by mathematical formulas, and one can hope that the laws governing the formation and existence of chemical compounds will in due course find mathematical expression. But if atoms really exist, then I do not understand why all attempts to determine the spatial position of the latter, as Kolbe thinks, should be futile, why the future will not teach us to make such determinations? Here Butlerov not only foresees the evolution of the theory of chemical structure into stereochemistry, but also the modern possibilities for determining the position of atoms in the molecules of a substance.
He expressed even more remarkable thoughts in one of his last articles regarding the constancy of the atomic weights of the elements. “I pose the question, will not Prout's conjecture, under certain conditions, be quite true? To raise such a question is to dare to deny the absolute constancy of atomic weights, and I really think that there is no reason to accept such constancy a priori. Atomic weight will be for the chemist basically nothing more than an expression of that weight of matter which is the carrier of a certain amount of chemical energy. But we know well that with other types of energy, its amount is not determined by the mass of matter at all: the mass can remain unchanged, but the amount of energy nevertheless changes, for example, due to a change in speed. Why shouldn't similar changes exist for chemical energy, even if only within certain narrow limits?
This whole passage is an example of a brilliant foresight of the phenomenon of isotopy of elements.
The Kazan School of Chemistry continued to develop after A. M. Butlerov moved to St. Petersburg. Among the first and best students of Butlerov, first of all, V. V. Markovnikov and A. M. Zaitsev should be attributed.
The scientific activity of V. V. Markovnikov proceeded mainly within the walls of Moscow University, and therefore it is more convenient to refer the consideration of his outstanding scientific works to the part of the essay in which the Moscow Chemical Center will be discussed.
A. M. Zaitsev. A. M. Butlerov’s successor in Kazan in the Department of Organic Chemistry was A. M. Zaitsev (1841-1910). A. M. Zaitsev continued to support and develop the best traditions of his teacher. His scientific and pedagogical activity played a huge role in the development of the Butler school and the Butler trend in chemistry.
Alexander Mikhailovich Zaitsev was born in Kazan on June 20 (old style), 1841. in the merchant family of Mikhail Savvich Zaitsev. The mother of A. M. Zaitsev is Natalia Vasilievna Lyapunova. Father A.M. Zaitsev wanted to send his son to
trade department, but the uncle of the future chemist, Mikhail Vasilievich Lyapunov, *1 convinced him to send the boy to the gymnasium and later took a great part in raising his nephew.
A. M. Zaitsev graduated from the 2nd Kazan gymnasium in 1858 in the department of lawyers. M. V. Lyapunov personally trained his nephew in Latin, which, as a “lawyer”, was not passed by A. M. Zaitsev in the gymnasium, but which had to be passed for admission to the university. Having passed the exam in Latin, A. M. Zaitsev entered the cameral department of the law faculty of Kazan University.
At the university, Zaitsev became interested in chemistry, no doubt under the influence of Butlerov, whose talent as a scientist and as a teacher unfolded by this time in full breadth.
A. M. Zaitsev graduated from the University in 1862. In the same year, he went abroad at his own expense to continue his chemical education. For two years he worked in Marburg under the direction of G. Kolbe. From August 1864 to April 1865 he spent in Paris, where he worked in the laboratory of the Medical School under the direction of A. Wurtz. Zaitsev spent the last semester of his stay abroad in Kolbe's laboratory.
The first works of A. M. Zaitsev in chemistry bear clear signs of their author's stay abroad. PhD thesis! “On oxides of thioethers” and the master’s “On the action of nitric acid on some organic compounds of diequivalent sulfur and on a new series of organic sulfur compounds obtained by this reaction” were made on the topics of G. Kolbe.
A. M. Zaitsev returned to Kazan in 1865. After defending his master's thesis in 1868, soon after Butlerov moved to St. Petersburg, A. M. Zaitsev was elected in March 1869 by the University Council as an assistant professor in the department of chemistry. At the same time, A. M. Zaitsev worked energetically and prepared his doctoral dissertation on the topic of the Butlerov direction - “On a new method for converting fatty acids into their corresponding alcohols. Normal butyl alcohol and its transformation into secondary butyl alcohol”, which he defended in 1870 at Kazan University.
In November of the same year, 1870, Zaitsev was approved as an extraordinary, and a year later, an ordinary professor in the department of chemistry, which he held for almost 40 years until his death (August 19, 1910).
Russian chemists highly valued the scientific achievements of A. M. Zaitsev. For a number of years he was repeatedly elected a member of the Council of the Department of Chemistry. From 1904 he was the chairman of the Department and Council of the Department of Chemistry, and since 1905, while continuing to be the chairman of the Department and Council of the Department of Chemistry, he was the president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. In 1885 A.
M. Zaitsev was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. In the last years of his activity, he was offered: the Academy the highest academic title of academician, but Alexander Mikhailovich, always distinguished by extraordinary modesty, rejected the honorary offer, not wanting to part with the Kazan laboratory.
The significance of the scientific and scientific-pedagogical activity of A. M. Zaitsev for the development of organic chemistry is very great and is primarily determined by the extraordinary development and improvement of Butler's syntheses. Zaitsev's work in this direction led to the development of methods for obtaining alcohols of various classes, which entered the history of chemistry under the name "Zaitsev alcohols" and "Zaitsev syntheses". All these works are classical, their main goal is to strengthen the theory of chemical structure.
The works of A. M. Zaitsev on the order of addition of elements of hydrohalic acids to unsaturated hydrocarbons and the study of the reverse reaction of elimination of hydrohalic acids are also of great theoretical importance. These fundamental questions of organic chemistry, first put forward with all certainty by V. V. Markovnikov, must be categorized as the most interesting and difficult to understand chemical processes. The empirical rules that were established as a result of the work of Markovnikov and Zaitsev are called in our science the “Markovnikov-Zaitsev rules”. Suffice it to say that reactions of this kind, illuminating the dark region of isomerization phenomena, were studied by Markovnikov and Zaitsev in those distant times, when electronic concepts did not yet exist, in the light of which all these reactions and transformations are being actively studied at the present time. Extensive work of the laboratory of A. M. Zaitsev was devoted to polyhydric alcohols and oxides. Genetically associated with the synthesis of alcohols, the reactions of obtaining unsaturated acids, hydroxy acids and lactones. An interesting class of organic compounds, lactones, was discovered by A. M. Zaitsev in 1873.
Of great importance for the chemistry of higher fatty acids and, in connection with this, for the development of the fat industry are the works of A. M. Zaitsev and his students on higher unsaturated acids and higher hydroxy acids.
No less great is the role of A. M. Zaitsev in the creation of the Zaitsev school of chemists as a successive development of the Butler school. More than 150 works have come out of Zaitsev's laboratory, made both by him personally and by his numerous students on his topics and under his guidance. The number of students of A. M. Zaitsev is huge; in this regard, Alexander Mikhailovich occupies almost the first place in the history of Russian chemistry. The list of his students, whose works are published in the Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society, includes 72 chemists. Many of them subsequently became outstanding scientists and took chairs in various higher educational institutions in Russia. Among the most famous students of Zaitsev, first of all, we must name E. E. Wagner, I. I. Kanonnikov, S. N. Reformatsky, A. N. reform-
Matsky, A. A. Albitsky, V. I. Sorokin and many others. Personally, I also had the good fortune to receive my chemical education at the Kazan School of Chemistry under the guidance of A. M. Zaitsev, and in 1911, after his death, I took the chair of my teacher.
F. M. Flavitsky. Among the outstanding representatives of the Butlerov school of chemists and students of A. M. Butlerov is also F. M. Flavitsky (1848-1917).
Flavian Mikhailovich Flavitsky rotated in 1848. In 1870 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkov University and for three years worked in St. Petersburg, in the laboratory of A. M. Butlerov under his direct supervision. From 1873 until his death, F. M. Flavitsky worked within the walls of Kazan University, since 1884 he occupied the department of general and inorganic chemistry. His master's thesis "On the isomerism of amylenes from amyl alcohol fermentation" (Kazan, 1875) was written on the Butler theme and was devoted to the application of the theory of structure to this still little studied class of organic compounds.
Widely known not only in our country, but also abroad, his doctoral thesis "On some properties of terpenes and their mutual relations" (Kazan, 1880) was completed and defended at Kazan University.
F. M. Flavitsky's doctoral dissertation is a brilliantly executed experimental study in the completely obscure field of terpenes at that time. This work is a great step forward in the study of this complex natural group of organic compounds. In it, Flavitsky for the first time reduced to a few types various representatives of terpenes, described by chemists under several names, and at the same time showed that our Russian turpentine, in addition to the sign of rotation, is very close in nature to French.
At the same time, Flavitsky made very important conclusions for that time about the genetic relationship of monocyclic terpenes with bicyclic ones and about their mutual transformations.
Since 1890, F. M. Flavitsky concentrated his scientific interests on inorganic compounds, mainly on the study of hydrates of various salts. His extensive research in this area of chemistry cannot be reviewed here. One can express regret that the brilliant work of Flavitsky on the chemistry of terpenes, one of the outstanding pioneers in this field of organic chemistry, was interrupted, probably because he held the chair of general and inorganic chemistry at Kazan University.
F. M. Flavitsky died in 1917.
A. E. Arbuzov.1 Alexander Erminingeldovich Arbuzov was born on August 30 (old style), 1877, in the village of Arbuzov-Baran, Kazan province.
After graduating from the 1st Kazan classical gymnasium E in 1896, A.E. Arbuzov entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kazan University. After graduating from the university in 1900, he was introduced by prof. A. M. Zaitsev professorial fellow at the Department of Organic Chemistry. However, even before approval, he took, according to prof. F. M. Flavitsky, Assistant at the Department of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Agricultural Analysis at the Novo-Alexandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry.
While still a student at Kazan University, A. E. Arbuzov completed in the laboratory of A. M. Zaitsev, under his leadership, his first scientific work "On allylmethylphenylcarbinol", remarkable in that it was the first synthetic use of organozinc compounds discovered by Butlerov and widely developed his students, and especially Zaitsev, was converted into organomagnesium synthesis, almost simultaneously with the development of organomagnesium synthesis by Grignard. This work was published in the Journal of the Russian Chemical Society in 1901.
In 1905, he defended his master's thesis "On the structure of phosphorous acid and its derivatives" at Kazan University. In this work, the theme of which was inspired by reading D. I. Mendeleev’s Fundamentals of Chemistry, A. E. Arbuzov was the first to obtain pure esters of phosphorous acid, discovered the phenomenon of their catalytic isomerization into esters of alkyl phosphinic acids, and found a special reaction for compounds of trivalent phosphorus - formation of complex compounds with copper oxide halide salts.
This work of A.E. Arbuzov was awarded the Russian Physico-Chemical Society Prize. Zinin and Voskresensky.
In 1906, A. E. Arbuzov was elected to the Department of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Agricultural Analysis of the Novo-Alexandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, and in 1911 he was elected to the All-Russian competition for the Department of Organic Chemistry of Kazan University, which was vacated after the death of his teacher A M. Zaitseva.
In 1914, A. E. Arbuzov defended his doctoral dissertation at Kazan University "On the phenomena of catalysis in the field of transformations of certain phosphorus compounds." In this work, he generalized and continued the discoveries outlined in his master's work, extensively investigating the phenomenon he established of the transformation of trivalent phosphorus acid esters under the influence of alkyl halides into pentavalent phosphorus acid esters.
The phenomenon of "Arbuzov isomerization" has acquired fundamental importance in the chemistry of organophosphorus compounds, opening up new synthetic possibilities, widely used by A. E. Arbuzov himself, his students and followers, and not exhausted to this day. It can be said without exaggeration that the Arbuzov isomerization has become a major synthesis route in the series of organophosphorus compounds.
During this period, A. E. Arbuzov worked fruitfully in the field of sulfurous acid esters, indole chemistry, thermochemistry (ether compounds with bromine) and was also engaged in physicochemical research in the field of acid catalysis of ketone acetals. Nowadays, chemists constantly use Arbuzov's methods to obtain homologues of indole, acetals, ketones, sodium alcoholates, etc.
However, organophosphorus compounds continued to attract the main attention of A. E. Arbuzov. He studied molecular refractions and molecular volumes of organophosphorus compounds, and worked extensively on the preparation of organophosphorus compounds with an asymmetric phosphorus atom. Together with his son B. A. Arbuzov, he studied the structure of Boyd's acid chloride, which has remarkable properties. A. E. Arbuzov devoted much attention to the study of the properties and reactions of metal derivatives of dialkyl esters of phosphonoacetic acid, where he established tautomeric relations similar to those in sodium malonic or sodium acetoacetic ether, and gave methods for the synthesis of organophosphorus compounds based on the use of these properties. These studies led him, on the one hand, to the study of the phenomenon of tautomerism in general, and on the other hand, made it possible to discover a new, very elegant method for obtaining free radicals. The visibility of this method is so great that, at the initiative of A.E. Arbuzov, it is widely used for demonstration in lectures.
There is no possibility in a brief essay to highlight all the fundamental research of A. E. Arbuzov in the field of organophosphorus compounds. We can say that after the classical studies of A. Michaelis, A. E. Arbuzov so thoroughly
from the book of Academician A.E. Arbuzov "Brief outline of the development of organic chemistry in Russia"
Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov, the famous Russian chemist, the founder of the theory of the chemical structure of organic substances, is our fellow countryman, presumably a native of the city of Chistopol (according to another version, the village of Butlerovka, Spassky district, Kazan province, now Alekseevsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan).\
Butlerov was born on September 3 (15), 1828 in the family of an officer, participant in the war of 1812, retired lieutenant colonel Mikhail Vasilyevich Butlerov. His mother Sofya Alexandrovna, nee Strelkova, a young 19-year-old woman, died in childbirth. Alexander was an only child, he had no brothers and sisters. The boy was brought up in the estate of his grandfather Podlesnaya Shantala and in the family village of Butlerovka, located nearby. The father passed on to his son a love of reading, music, respect for simple work, a patronizing attitude towards the peasants, who often turned to him for medical help. Father and son were very friendly, they went on long trips to the banks of the Kama, hunted, fished. Father tried to develop Sasha both mentally and physically, he taught him to swim, ride a horse, study on his own, without tutors, to reach everything with his own mind.
From the age of ten, Alexander went to study at Topornin's private boarding school on Gruzinskaya Street (now K. Marx Street) in Kazan. Even at the boarding school, the boy became interested in chemistry, together with his friends he tried to make sparklers and gunpowder. The experiments were unsuccessful, there was an explosion. As punishment for this, Sasha Butlerov was put in a corner during lunch for several days and hung around his neck with a plaque with the inscription "great chemist." These words turned out to be prophetic.
After the terrible Kazan fire in 1842, the boarding house was closed. Butlerov enters the First Kazan Gymnasium, and in 1844 - at Kazan University, in the department of natural sciences. He studied with N.N. Zinin and K.K. Klaus. In the summer of 1846, Alexander fell ill with typhus, and was very seriously ill. His father took care of him, became infected and died. Butlerov, having recovered, learned about the death of his father. He experienced this grief for a very long time, he could not study, those around him were afraid for his mind.
After graduating from the university, Butlerov began teaching chemistry, worked in a chemical laboratory. In 1851 Butlerov wrote his master's thesis "On the oxidation of organic compounds", in 1854 his doctoral thesis "On essential oils", in 1857 he became a professor at Kazan University. In 1860-63 he was the rector of Kazan University. He lived on Novo-Gorshechnaya Street (now Butlerov Street), in Fedorova's house (the exact place where this house was located has not been established).
In 1851, Butlerov married the niece of S.T. Aksakov, Nadezhda Mikhailovna Glumilina. After his marriage, he moved to his mother-in-law's house at the corner of Pokrovskaya and Pochtamtskaya streets (now K. Marx-Lobachevsky, No. 27/11, where he lived until 1864, his children Mikhail (1852) and Vladimir (1864) were born here. In 1864, the Butlerovs moved to a new apartment (now K. Marx, 12), where they lived before leaving for St. Petersburg.
In 1861, Butlerov expressed the basic idea of the theory of chemical structure that for each body there is 1 rational formula that reflects its chemical structure. Chemical structure is a bond, a way of connecting atoms in a body. Properties and chemical structure are interrelated. Reactions depend on the chemical structure and, knowing this dependence, we know the transformations that this substance can undergo. Thanks to this theory, Butlerov was able to theoretically explain and prove in practice the phenomenon of isomerism and predict still unknown types of isomerism. Modern organic chemistry is based on Butler's theory.
Butlerov began to conduct systematic studies of polymerization. These studies were continued by his students and led to the famous discovery by S.V. Lebedev of synthetic rubber and the method of its industrial production. Many studies by Butlerov of syntheses (ethanol, tertiary alcohols, diisobutylene) underlie many industries.
In 1868, the Kazan period of Butlerov's activity ends. At the suggestion of Mendeleev, he became a professor at St. Petersburg University, in 1870 - an academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, in 1878-1882 - President of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society.
Butlerov taught for about 35 years at 3 educational institutions: Kazan University, St. Petersburg University, Higher Women's Courses, created the Butlerov School of Organic Chemists. According to contemporaries, he was one of the best lecturers of that time, the audience was captivated by the clarity and rigor of the presentation of the material, the figurativeness of the language.
A. M. Butlerov was a healthy, physically strong man. If he did not find his acquaintances at home, then he bent the iron poker with the letter “B” (Butlerov) and hung it on the door instead of a business card. In 1868, on a trip to Algiers, he was caught in a storm in the Mediterranean. The waves carried 8 sailors into the sea and Butlerov had to take their place in order to save the ship and passengers. He came out of this test with honor.
Butlerov died on August 5 (17), 1886 and was buried in the village of Butlerovka.
A street in the center of Kazan was named after Butlerov, the Chemical Institute bears his name, in 1978, on the 150th anniversary of his birth, a monument to Butlerov was erected in the Leninsky garden (sculptor Yu.G. Orekhov). The formula of the benzene ring (one of Butlerov's discoveries) is inscribed on the pedestal of the monument. Since 1979, Butlerov Readings have been held in Kazan, where the best chemists of the country give lectures.
