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 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 chemical school 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, equipped at 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 they called it then, the philosophical faculty.

Zinin brilliantly graduated from the university in 1833 with a candidate's degree and a gold medal for his essay on the topic "On the perturbations of the elliptical motion of the planets." 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 the listed sciences to young scientists who had barely reached the age of 22 was very successful, as evidenced by the gratitude rendered to N. N. Zinin by the University Council.

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.

Within a 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' 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 performed his first experimental work on classical Liebig themes in 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 - "benzidam" - was recognized by Academician Yu. F. Fritsche 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 (ie, naphthylenediamine) and semibenzidam (ie, 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 his doctoral dissertation and work on some derivatives of lepidin. This seemingly incomprehensible phenomenon 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 vast 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 a chemical scientist, which still largely retains its strength for an organic synthetic.

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 arranged 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 goal 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 make 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 activities of the laboratory were terminated, and all the equipment was donated to St. Petersburg University, which was the beginning of a decently furnished laboratory of the university.

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 significance 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 should 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, the conditions for extracting salt from it by the Ural Cossacks, the color of the water, etc., are described in detail (and, probably, collected) the flora and fauna surrounding the lake, 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 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 sets about expanding 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 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 returning 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, called urotropine, is still widely used in medicine as an anti-gout agent, for disinfecting 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's teachings 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 Kekule, also arrives at a number of basic provisions 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 complete 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 connection 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., valencies) of the carbon atom are located 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 the teacher of the Kazan Agricultural School Resh 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:

"BUT. 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. In chemistry there is a Butler school, 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 classified 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 worked for three years 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 theme of Butler 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 dissertation "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 fruitfully worked 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 paid 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"

How is the Butlerov Institute of Chemistry developing today? How are graduates employed, and with whom does the institute cooperate? The Director of the Institute, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Galkin spoke about this and not only.

Before proceeding directly to questions - answers, we note that in recent years the Faculty of Chemistry has experienced a new birth. Both the building itself and its “stuffing” have been renovated: a number of classrooms have been refurbished, new scientific and educational laboratories have appeared, unique equipment has been put into operation. And now about everything in more detail.

- Vladimir Ivanovich, what can the Butlerov Chemical Institute of KFU boast of today?

Many! If we focus on the laboratories and, in general, on the new equipment of the institute, then, first of all, I would like to talk about the laboratory of X-ray diffraction analysis, where a single-crystal diffractometer is installed - a device that allows you to directly obtain a "photo of molecules": what atoms are interconnected, how, how they are arranged in space. After all, the main task of chemistry is to obtain new compounds with practically useful properties. This is the only direct method for determining the structure of a wide variety of compounds in a single crystal. There are many methods for determining the structure, but, unfortunately, most of them (physical, physicochemical) "work" in solution and give indirect data. Laboratories of this class are few in our country and in the world.

I would add that in addition to the fact that the institute has found new laboratories, there is also an appropriate infrastructure - both for the work of researchers and the devices themselves. Considerable sums have been spent - 450 million rubles.

- How soon will these investments in science pay off?

When we talk about the payback of science, this is a rather complicated issue. There are two components to keep in mind. The first is the acquisition of new knowledge, which is invaluable in itself, and the second is the performance of practically useful work on orders from enterprises and partners. As a famous academician once said, fundamental science is such a multi-branched tree, and it is not known on which branch a new fruit will ripen, so you need to water the tree and take care of it.

If we turn to the history of Alma mater, then at the Kazan Imperial University there were "Department of Technology and Metallurgy" and "Department of Technology and Sciences related to trade and factories." Can you name the modern departments of the institute that are related to trade and factories? Who are your partners today?

If we translate the concept of "cooperation with trade and factories" into modern language, then we, chemists, should understand this as the creation of new chemical technologies that are implemented in the petrochemical industry. This direction is one of the most important in the work of our institute.

We cooperate with all leading chemical enterprises of Kazan and the republic. The closest ties in the applied aspect have developed with OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim, the largest petrochemical plant in Europe. In the framework of Government Decree No. 218 (cooperation between universities and industrial enterprises), Kazan University, represented by us, won a grant for the development of new catalysts for the production of chemically important products at Nizhnekamskneftekhim. New catalysts are being developed, which are higher in quality than world ones and at least an order of magnitude cheaper. The production of these catalysts has already been organized at the Mendeleev Plant, where the satellite plant of Nizhnekamskneftekhim is located. And now production is being built at the main plant.

In 2013, the grant was announced again, and we won it again. This cooperation will continue, but it extends not only to Nizhnekamskneftekhim, since all chemical enterprises need catalysts.

- And how does the catalyst "get" from the laboratory to the plant?

First, the catalyst is developed, then its structure is studied on our territory in the laboratory of heterogeneous catalysis, which is headed by Professor Lambert. We have setups that simulate four different types of reactors used at Nizhnekamskneftekhim for different processes. Next, the catalysts are tested under pilot conditions, after which all conditions and modes of operation in a real reactor are selected, and only then these results are transferred to Nizhnekamskneftekhim, to the laboratory branch on the territory of the plant.

A bit of history: From the first third of the 19th century (1835-1837), the Kazan School of Chemistry, associated with such names as N.N. Zinin, K.K. Klaus, A.M. Butlerov, V.V. Markovnikov and E.E. Wagner. In 1933, the Faculty of Chemistry appeared at Kazan University. But three years before that, in 1929, the Fifth Mendeleev Congress decided to establish the Butlerov Institute of Chemistry at Kazan University. However, since there were no opportunities then, they created a chemical research institute under the auspices of the Council of People's Commissars. That is, at the university for a long time there were two different structures of the chemical profile, which, in fact, were related. Faculty of Chemistry and NIHI were merged in 2003. So, after 74 years, the decision of the V Mendeleev Congress was finally implemented - the Chemical Institute named after A.I. A.M. Butlerova.

Let's talk about students. Whom is the institute preparing today? High school chemistry teachers, researchers, industry specialists?

First of all, we train elite research chemists. We provide fundamental education, and our graduates are in demand in the labor market. We receive applications from universities, research institutes, enterprises with which we cooperate. A significant part of the graduates remain in science. Approximately 30 percent enter the graduate school of Kazan University, another part - in the graduate school of other universities and research institutes.

- Are they going abroad?

They are leaving, but now it's still less. Rather, we can talk about scientific mobility. Only from my group 8 people left, who are now working in different countries. This is also a confirmation of the school, since our graduates are in demand all over the world.

- Is there a tendency to return? What do you associate it with?

What does a scientist need? If this is a person who loves science, then, of course, he should be able to realize himself. I must say that we have such opportunities. The Institute of Chemistry today is, on the one hand, a powerful educational and scientific unit, which is one of the three best chemical faculties according to the rating of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and is far ahead of other chemical faculties of classical universities. On the other hand, it is a research institute that has eight research departments. We employ 35 doctors of sciences, professors and more than 70 candidates of sciences. These are associate professors, teachers, researchers. A rare university can boast of such personnel potential.

Former KHTI, and now Kazan National Research Technological University - is it a competitor or a partner for you?

There is some competition between us, of course, in terms of reception. Although our enrollment is smaller, besides, Kazan Federal University has a specialist - for the natural sciences, this is the best option, since you can immediately enter graduate school. I note that we have one of the highest USE in the country in chemistry.

What can you say about the new generations of applicants, Vladimir Ivanovich? Advanced youth comes or, on the contrary, weak?

Of course, we feel shortcomings in the system of modern school education, therefore, for some time now, we have been working closely with chemistry teachers, reviving the work of the Club of Young Chemists, a correspondence chemical school. Such actions are already affecting the regional composition of first-year students - 40% from Tatarstan, another 40 from outside the republic.

It is gratifying that the newly equipped laboratories now make it possible to proudly receive guests from the school. We show the best equipment and see that our laboratories arouse the keenest interest among schoolchildren. All this allows us to hope that it is the advanced guys who want to get an elite chemical education that will aspire to us.

"The cradle of Russian organic chemistry" - this is how the historians of chemistry defined Kazan, the chemical laboratory of Kazan University.

N.N. Zinin, and later A.M. Butlerov, being elected academicians of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, in accordance with the traditions of that time, transferred their research from Kazan to St. Petersburg. A "Petersburg branch" of the Kazan School of Chemistry emerged.

VV Markovnikov, having left Kazan University, continued his research at Novorossiysk (now Odessa), and then at Moscow University. A "Moscow branch" was formed.

The students of A.M. Butlerov, and later the students of A.M. Zaitsev, headed the departments of chemistry in other Russian universities: A.N. A. Albitsky - in Kharkov ... Truly a "cradle", truly a "powerful chemical bunch".

The beginning of the Kazan School of Chemistry was laid by the works of two remarkable scientists: K.K.Klaus, who discovered the element ruthenium in 1844, and N.N. Zinina, who converted nitrobenzene to aniline, which marked the beginning of industrial organic synthesis.

The glory of his teachers was multiplied by a graduate of Kazan University - A.M. Butlerov(1828-1886), who created the theory of the chemical structure of organic compounds, and his most prominent students: V.V.Markovnikov, A.N.Popov, F.M.Flavitsky, A.M.Zaitsev.

Scientists of Kazan University highly appreciated the scientific achievements of their colleagues. K.K.Klaus, N.N.Zinin, A.M.Butlerov, A.M.Zaitsev were elected honorary members of Kazan University. By decision of the University Council, busts of N.N. Zinin and A.M. Butlerov were installed in the auditorium, now called Butlerovskaya.

An excellent teacher A.M.Zaitsev brought up a galaxy of organic chemists. Among them: E.E.Vagner , A.A.Albitsky , S.N.Reformatsky , A.N.Reformatsky , I.I.Kanonnikov, A.E.Arbuzov and etc.

In 1928, Kazan hosted the 5th ride of the All-Union Chemical Society named after D.I. Mendeleev, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.M. Butlerov. the name of a great chemist. In 1929 the Institute was established. A.E. Arbuzov became its director.

Museum of the Kazan Chemical School in NIHI.

Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich, whose brief biography is found in almost all chemistry textbooks, is a famous Russian chemist, the founder of the scientific school of organic chemistry, the founder of the theory of the structure of organic substances, who predicted and explained the isomerism of a large number of organic compounds and synthesized some of them (urotropine, formaldehyde polymer and etc.). Also, Alexander Mikhailovich, whose contribution to science was highly appreciated by D. I. Mendeleev, wrote works on beekeeping and agriculture.

Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich: short biography

The future scientist was born on September 15, 1828 in the family of a former military man, at that time a landowner. His father Mikhail Vasilievich participated in the war of 1812, and after his retirement he lived with his family in his native village of Butlerovka. Mom, Sofya Alexandrovna, died at the age of 19, immediately after the birth of a child. Alexander spent his childhood in Butlerovka and his grandfather's estate - the village of Podlesnaya Shantala, where he was raised by aunts. At the age of 10, the boy was sent to a private boarding school, where he mastered French and German well. In 1842, after a terrible fire in Kazan, the boarding school was closed, and Sasha was transferred to the 1st Kazan gymnasium. In these educational institutions, Butlerov collected insects and plants, was very interested in chemistry and conducted his first experiments. The result of one of them was an explosion, and the punishment for Alexander for what he had done was imprisonment in a punishment cell with a plaque on his chest “The Great Chemist”.

student years

In 1844, Butlerov A.M., whose biography is permeated with love for chemistry, became a student at Kazan University, which at that time was the center of natural scientific research. At first, the young man became very interested in zoology and botany, but then his interest, under the influence of lectures by K. K. Klaus and N. N. Zinin, spread to chemistry. On their own advice, the young man organized a home laboratory, but the topic of the candidate's thesis, perhaps due to Zinin's move to St. Petersburg, was butterflies.

After graduating from the university in 1849, Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov, who was requested by N. I. Lobachevsky and K. K. Klaus, devoted himself to teaching and lectured on physical geography, physics and chemistry. Moreover, Alexander Mikhailovich was an excellent speaker, able to completely control the attention of the audience due to the clarity and rigor of presentation. In addition to lectures within the walls of the university, Butlerov gave lectures available to the public. The Kazan public sometimes preferred these performances to fashionable theatrical productions. He received his master's degree in 1851, in the same year he married Glumilina Nadezhda Mikhailovna, the niece of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. After 3 years, he defended his doctoral dissertation at Moscow University on the topic "About Essential Oils". After that, he was elected at the Kazan University as an extraordinary, and a few years later, an ordinary professor of chemistry. From 1860 to 1863, against his own will, twice the rector, and the rectorship fell on a rather difficult period in the history of the university: a memorial service for Kurtin and abyssal unrest that affected students and faculty.

Trip to Europe

Alexander Mikhailovich actively participated in the activities of the economic society of the city of Kazan, published articles on agriculture, botany and floriculture. The biography of Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov includes three trips abroad, the first of which took place in 1857-1858. The Russian scientist visited Europe, where he visited the enterprises of the chemical industry and got acquainted with the leading chemical laboratories. In one of them, in Paris, he worked for almost six months. In the same period, Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov listened to lectures by such prominent European minds as A. Becquerel, E. Mitscherlich, J. Liebig, R. V. Bunsen, and made acquaintance with Friedrich August Kekule, a German chemist.

Upon returning to Kazan, Butlerov A.M., whose biography is of interest not only in Russia, but also abroad, reequipped the chemical laboratory and continued research on methylene derivatives, begun by Wurtz. In 1858, the scientist discovered a new method for the synthesis of methylene iodide and carried out a number of works related to the extraction of its derivatives. During the synthesis of methylene diacetate, a formaldehyde polymer was obtained - a saponification product of the substance under study, the result of experiments on which was hexamethylenetetramine and methyleneninate. Thus, Butlerov for the first time produced a complete synthesis of a sugary substance.

Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich: briefly about the achievements of the scientist

In 1861, Butlerov spoke in Speyer, at the Congress of German Doctors and Naturalists, with a lecture "On the chemical structure of matter", which was based on acquaintance with the state of chemistry abroad, an irresistible interest in the fundamentals of chemistry from a theoretical point of view and his own experiments, produced throughout his scientific career.

His theory, which included ideas about the ability of A. Cooper's carbon atoms to form chains and A. Kekule's valence, assumed the chemical structure of molecules, by which the scientist understood the method of connecting atoms to each other, depending on a certain amount of chemical strength (affinity) inherent in each atom.

Important aspects of Butlerov's theory

The Russian scientist established a close relationship between the structure and chemical properties of a complex organic compound, which was able to explain the isomerism of many of them, including three pentanes, two isomeric butanes, and various alcohols. Butlerov's theory also made it possible to predict possible chemical reactions and explain them.

Thus, in his theory, Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov:

• showed the insufficiency of the theories of chemistry that existed at that time;
• emphasized the overriding atomicity;
• defined as the distribution of affinity forces belonging to atoms, as a result of which atoms, exerting an influence on each other (indirect or direct), are combined into a chemical particle;
• determined 8 rules for the formation of chemical compounds;
• was the first to draw attention to the difference in the reactivity of dissimilar compounds, explained by the lower or higher energy with which the atoms combine, as well as by the incomplete or complete consumption of affinity units during bond formation.

Scientific achievements of the Russian chemist

The biography of Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov is briefly described in school textbooks, with the dates of his life and his greatest achievements in the account of the Russian scientist, a huge number of experiments aimed at confirming his theory. The scientist, having previously synthesized, determined in 1864 the structure of the tertiary in 1866 - isobutane, in 1867 - isobutylene. He also learned the structure of a number of ethylene carbons and produced their polymerization.

In 1867-1868. Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich, whose brief biography evokes scientists from all over the world, was appointed professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg University. Introducing it to the staff of this institution, Mendeleev emphasized the originality of Butler's teaching, which was not a continuation of anyone else's work, but belonged to him personally.

In 1869, Butlerov finally settled in St. Petersburg, where he was elected an extraordinary, and then an ordinary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The period of life in St. Petersburg was very active: the professor continued his experiments, polished the theory of chemical structure, and participated in public life.

Hobbies in the life of a scientist

In 1873 he began to study and lecture on this subject. He wrote the first manual in scientific history based on the theory of chemical structure - "Introduction to the full study of organic chemistry." Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov is the founder of the school of Russian chemists, otherwise known as the "Butlerov school". In parallel with the study of chemistry, he was actively interested in agriculture. In particular, he was interested in growing tea in the Caucasus, gardening and beekeeping. His brochures “How to Lead the Bees” and “The Bee, Its Life and the Main Rules of Intelligent Beekeeping” were reprinted many times, and in 1886 he also founded the journal “Russian Beekeeping Leaflet”.

In 1880-1883. Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich, whose brief biography is interesting and replete with discoveries important for science, was the president of the Russian Physical and Technical Society. In the same period, the scientist became very interested in spiritualism, which he met at the Aksakov estate in 1854. Later, he became close friends with his wife's cousin Aksakov A.N., who published the journal on spiritualism Psychic Research, and ardently defended his hobby before his acquaintances and friends who condemned him.

The value of the works of Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov for chemistry

Alexander Mikhailovich had to retire in 1875, after 25 years of service. The Council of St. Petersburg University twice postponed this period by 5 years. The last lecture of Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov took place on March 14, 1885. He was let down by his health, undermined by intensive scientific work and social activities: unexpectedly for everyone, Butlerov died at his estate on August 5, 1886. The scientist was buried in the rural cemetery of his native Butlerovka, now defunct, in the family chapel.

Butlerov's works received worldwide recognition during his lifetime, his scientific school is considered an integral part of the development of chemistry in Russia, and the biography of Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov is of genuine interest to scientists and students. Alexander Mikhailovich himself was a very charming and versatile person with a sociable character, breadth of views, good nature and condescending attitude towards students.

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 Leontievich (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, stated 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 factories 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 on 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.