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Nikolai Semyonovich Kurnakov (; 6 December O.S. 24 November">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 24 November1860 – 19 March 1941) was a Russian chemist, who is internationally recognized as the originator of physical chemistry">physicochemical Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

analysis. He also was one of the principal founders of the platinum industry in the Soviet Union. A chemical reaction that he pioneered, known as the Kurnakov test, is still used to differentiate Cis–trans isomerism, cis from Cis–trans isomerism, trans isomers of

divalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an atom is a measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Valence is generally understood to be the number of chemica ...

platinum and is his best-known contribution to

coordination chemistry A coordination complex is a chemical compound consisting of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of chemical bond, bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ' ...

Early life and career

Kurnakov was born in

Nolinsk Nolinsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Nolinsky District in Kirov Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Voya River (Vyatka River, Vyatka's tributary), south of Kirov, Kirov Oblast ...

Vyatka Governorate Vyatka Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR from 1796 to 1929, with its capital in Vyatka (now Kirov, Kirov Oblast, Kirov). The ...

. He attended a high school at

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

and later studied at the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. Distantly related to organic chemist

Vladimir Markovnikov Vladimir Vasilyevich Markovnikov, also Markownikoff (; – 11 February 1904) was a Russian chemist, best known for having developed the Markovnikov's rule, that describes addition reactions of hydrogen halides and alkenes. Early life and educat ...

, he made an early choice of a chemistry career, setting up a home laboratory at 14. He published his first article on

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...

crystallization and sodium thioantimoniate in 1882. In the same year he graduated as a mining engineer. During a trip to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Kurnakov studied salt manufacturing in several locations. The scientific work of this trip became his Ph.D. thesis, which he completed in 1884.

Career

He then worked for several years at the Mining Institute, mostly on the formation of salts and potash deposits and mining and beneficiation of salt and potash. In 1893, Kurnakov became professor of

inorganic chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

for his work on the reactions of cis- and trans- platinum complexes with

thiourea Thiourea () is an organosulfur compound with the formula and the structure . It is structurally similar to urea (), with the oxygen atom replaced by sulfur atom (as implied by the '' thio-'' prefix). The properties of urea and thiourea differ s ...

, today known as the Kurnakov test. In 1902 he became professor at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, which he established together with

Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

and

Nikolai Menshutkin Nikolai Aleksandrovich Menshutkin (; – ) was a Russian chemist who discovered the process of converting a tertiary amine to a quaternary ammonium salt via the reaction with an alkyl halide, now known as the Menshutkin reaction. Biography Mensh ...

. He held the position until 1930. In his later years, he focused his work on platinum chemistry and platinum production. He received several prizes, for example, the

Mendeleev Prize Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

in 1936, the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

in 1939 and the Stalin Prize in 1941. He was also awarded a ''Doctor honoris causa'' by

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1909. After the death of his wife in 1940 his health deteriorated, and he died in a sanatorium in Barvikha on 19 March 1941. A mineral was named

kurnakovite Kurnakovite is a hydrated borate of magnesium with the chemical composition MgB3O3(OH)5·5H2O. It is a member of the inderite group and is a triclinic dimorph of the monoclinic inderite. Discovery and occurrence Kurnakovite, was first described ...

in his honor.

Early life and career

Career

References

Further reading