Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Никола́евич Зи́нин; 25 August 1812, in

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...

– 18 February 1880, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

) was a Russian

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J. ...

Life

He studied at the

University of Kazan Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

where he graduated in mathematics but he started teaching chemistry in 1835. To improve his skills he was asked to study in Europe for some time, which he did between 1838 and 1841. He studied with

Justus Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the ...

in Giessen, where he finished his research on the

benzoin condensation The benzoin addition is an addition reaction involving two aldehydes. The reaction generally occurs between aromatic aldehydes or glyoxals, and results in formation of an acyloin Acyloins or α-hydroxy ketones are a class of organic compounds w ...

, which was discovered by Liebig several years before. He presented his research results at the

University of Saint Petersburg A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, where he received his Ph.D. He became Professor for Chemistry in the same year at the University of Kazan and left for the

in 1847 where he also became a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and first president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (1868–1877). In St. Petersburg, professor Zinin was a private teacher of chemistry to the young Alfred Nobel.

Work

He is known for the so-called

Zinin reaction Zinin reaction or Zinin reduction was discovered by a Russian organic chemist Nikolay Zinin (Russian: Николай Николаевич Зинин) (25 August 1812, Shusha – 18 February 1880, Saint Petersburg). This reaction involves conversion ...

or Zinin reduction, in which

nitro Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...

aromates like nitrobenzene are converted to

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element wi ...

s by reduction with ammonium sulfides. In 1842 Zinin played an important role in identifying

aniline Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile starti ...

References

External links

Biography

1812 births 1880 deaths Organic chemists Scientists from Shusha Chemists from the Russian Empire Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Russian inventors {{Russia-chemist-stub