Alekséy Yevgényevich Chichibábin (; – 15 August 1945) was a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n organic chemist. His name is also written ''Alexei Yevgenievich Chichibabin'' and ''Alexei Euguenievich Tchitchibabine''.
Life
Chichibábin was born at Kuzemin on March 17, 1871. He studied at the
University of Moscow
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...
from 1888 until 1892, and received his PhD from the
University of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...
. In 1896, Chichibáin married Vera Vladimirovna as his wife. He became a professor at the Imperial College of Technology in Moscow in 1909, and remained there until 1929. After losing his daughter Natacha, a chemist, to an industrial
oleum
Oleum (Latin ''oleum'', meaning oil), or fuming sulfuric acid, is a term referring to solutions of various compositions of sulfur trioxide in sulfuric acid, or sometimes more specifically to disulfuric acid (also known as pyrosulfuric acid).
Ol ...
accident (explosion) that he deemed preventable, Chichibábin moved to Paris where he remained despite threat of and eventual stripping of his Soviet citizenship and his position in the Academy of Sciences (1936, Academy standing restored posthumously, 1990).
[David Lewis, 2012, Early Russian Organic Chemists and Their Legacy (Vol. 4, SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science: History of chemistry), Heidelberg:Springer, , se]
accessed 12 February 2015. In 1931 he began working at the Collège de France, remaining until his death in 1945, but also serving over parts of the same period as the director of research at French dye and fine chemical manufacturer Établissement Kuhlmann, and as an advisor to the Schering and Roosevelt Co. of New York.
[
Chichibábin and his wife, Vera Vladmirovna Tchitchibabine, had one child, a daughter who became a chemist. Chichibábin died in 1945 and was buried at the ]Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery () is part of the ''Cimetière de Liers'' and is called the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, close to Paris, France.
History
The ''Cimetière de Liers'' was created as the se ...
near Paris.
Scientific work
Chichibábin is associated with the development of several important organic chemical reactions. One is a novel terpyridine
Terpyridine (2,2';6',2"-terpyridine, often abbreviated to Terpy or Tpy) is a heterocyclic compound derived from pyridine. It is a white solid that is soluble in most organic solvents. The compound is mainly used as a ligand in coordination chemist ...
synthesis, the Chichibabin pyridine synthesis. The other reactions are the Bodroux-Chichibabin aldehyde synthesis and the Chichibabin reaction
The Chichibabin reaction (pronounced ' (chē')-chē-bā-bēn) is a method for producing 2-aminopyridine derivatives by the reaction of pyridine with sodium amide. It was reported by Aleksei Chichibabin in 1914. The following is the overall form o ...
.
Chichibábin authored the two-volume ''Osnovnye nachala organicheskoy khimii'' (''Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry''), which first appeared in 1924, a principal university-level chemistry textbooks in the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
that went through 7 Russian editions and was translated into Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, French, Spanish, English, and Chinese.[A.N. Kost, 2008, "Alexei Yevgenievich Chichibabin," in the ''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, se]
accessed 12 February 2015. An edition of the book was dedicated to Chichibábin's daughter, Natacha, who was killed by an oleum explosion in a chemical production factory in 1930.[
Chichibábin won the ]Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...
in 1926.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chichibabin, Aleksei
1871 births
1945 deaths
Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Recipients of the Lenin Prize
Chemists from the Russian Empire
Soviet inventors
Soviet chemists
20th-century Russian chemists
Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Soviet emigrants to France
Imperial Moscow University alumni