Araxie Tovmasovna Babayan (; 5 May 1906 – 13 February 1993) was a Soviet and Armenian

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

. She was an Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Armenian SSR (1961) and Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Armenian SSR (1968).

Life and work

Araxie Babayan was born on 5 May 1906 in Yerevan. As a student of

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

, Babayan worked in the chemical laboratory, performing demonstrative experiments of her teacher Stepan Gambaryan, founder of the school of organic chemistry in Armenia. She graduated from the agricultural faculty of the Yerevan State University in 1928. From 1928 until 1958, Babayan worked at Yerevan's veterinary institute and, beginning in 1935, in the Chemical Institute of Armenia branch of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...

. In 1937, Babayan graduated from the faculty chemistry at the

Yerevan Polytechnic Institute The National Polytechnic University of Armenia () is a technical university located in Yerevan, Armenia. Established as the Karl Marx Institute of Polytechnic in 1933, it provides educational and research programs in various fields of technology ...

. She defended her dissertation in 1937 and her doctoral dissertation in 1945. Babayan's main research was devoted to

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

s and

quaternary ammonium In organic chemistry, quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively-charged polyatomic ions of the structure , where R is an alkyl group, an aryl group or organyl group. Unlike the ammonium ion () and the primary, secondary, o ...

compounds. She established a number of new laws in the chemistry of quaternary ammonium compounds. Babayan proposed a method for synthesizing acetylene glycols, known in the chemical literature as Favorskii–Babayan reactions. Between 1949 and 1953, Babayan was a deputy director of science of the Chemical Institute of the ArmFAN of the USSR. In 1953, she discovered the catalytic action of ammonium salts for the

alkylation Alkylation is a chemical reaction that entails transfer of an alkyl group. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene (or their equivalents). Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting al ...

reaction of organic acids. Between 1955 and 1957, Babayan was a head of the organic chemistry sector and, from 1957 to 1993, head of the laboratory of the amino compounds of Academy of Sciences of Armenian SSR. Beginning in 1956, Babayan was a corresponding member, and, beginning in 1966, an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. In 1961, Babayan was recognized as an Honored Scientist of the Armenian SSR. From 1976 to 1983, Babayan was a chief editor of ''Armenian Chemical Journal''. She was a deputy of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

of the second, third, and fourth convocations of the Armenian SSR. Araxie Babayan died on 13 February 1993 in Yerevan and is buried at Nubarashen cemetery.

Awards

The Order of Friendship of Peoples * Orderredbannerlabor rib

The Order of the Red Banner of Labor * SU Order of the Badge of Honour ribbon

The Order of the Badge of Honour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babayan, Araxie 1906 births 1993 deaths Communist Party of the Soviet Union members National Polytechnic University of Armenia alumni Yerevan State University alumni Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Scientists from Yerevan Armenian chemists Soviet women chemists Soviet chemists Soviet Armenians