Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Никола́евич Зи́нин; 25 August 1812, in
Shusha – 18 February 1880, in
Saint Petersburg) was a Russian
organic chemist.
Life
He studied at the
University of Kazan 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 in Giessen, where he finished his research on the
benzoin condensation, which was discovered by Liebig several years before. He presented his research results at the
University of Saint Petersburg, where he received his Ph.D. He became Professor for Chemistry in the same year at the University of Kazan and left for the
University of Saint Petersburg in 1847 where he also became a member of the
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
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
Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
.
Work
He is known for the so-called
Zinin reaction 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
Nitrobenzene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5 NO2. It is a water-insoluble pale yellow oil with an almond-like odor. It freezes to give greenish-yellow crystals. It is produced on a large scale from benzene as a precursor t ...
are converted to
amines by reduction with ammonium
sulfide
Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds lar ...
s.
[
]
In 1842 Zinin played an important role in identifying
aniline.
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