Vyacheslav Evgenievich Tishchenko (Вячеслав Евгеньевич Тищенко; 19 August 1861 – 25 February 1941) was a Russian chemist, best-known for the development of the

Tishchenko reaction The Tishchenko reaction is an organic chemical reaction that involves disproportionation of an aldehyde in the presence of an alkoxide. The reaction is named after Russian organic chemist Vyacheslav Tishchenko, who discovered that aluminium alko ...

Life and work

Tishchenko was born in 1861 in

St. 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 ...

, where he attended school before undertaking studies at

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

(which was named Saint Petersburg Imperial University at the time). He worked in the laboratory of

Alexander Butlerov Alexander Mikhaylovich Butlerov (Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Бу́тлеров; 15 September 1828 – 17 August 1886) was a Russian chemist, one of the principal creators of the theory of chemical structure (1857–1861 ...

, studying the interaction of

paraformaldehyde Paraformaldehyde (PFA) is the smallest polyoxymethylene, the polymerization product of formaldehyde with a typical degree of polymerization of 8–100 units. Paraformaldehyde commonly has a slight odor of formaldehyde due to decomposition. Paraf ...

with

hydrohalic acids In chemistry, hydrogen halides (hydrohalic acids when in the aqueous phase) are diatomic, inorganic compounds that function as Arrhenius acids. The formula is HX where X is one of the halogens: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, or astat ...

. Tishchenko graduated in 1884 and worked with

Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) ( ; russian: links=no, Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, tr. , ; 8 February Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._27_January.html" ;"title="O ...

as a laboratory assistant and lecture assistant. Tishchenko became a lecturer at St. Petersburg State University in 1891, where he taught analytical chemistry. He was sent to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and the Paris Exposition in 1900 in order to report back to his home university on the chemical technology exhibited at these expositions. Following the 1917

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, Tishchenko headed a laboratory at the Russian State Institute of Applied Chemistry, which was affiliated with the military industry and focused on chemical synthesis. In 1928, Tishchenko was named a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and was named an Academician in 1935.

Chemistry

The

produces

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides ar ...

s from an

aldehyde In organic chemistry, an aldehyde () is an organic compound containing a functional group with the structure . The functional group itself (without the "R" side chain) can be referred to as an aldehyde but can also be classified as a formyl grou ...

and a

ketone In organic chemistry, a ketone is a functional group with the structure R–C(=O)–R', where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones contain a carbonyl group –C(=O)– (which contains a carbon-oxygen double bo ...

, or two equivalents of an aldehyde, in the presence of a metal alkoxide catalyst. Also named after him is the 'Tishchenko flask', a type of glassware used in absorption of gases. In 1931, Tishchenko undertook work on the synthesis of

camphene Camphene is a bicyclic organic compound. It is one of the most pervasive monoterpenes. As for other terpenes, it is insoluble in water, flammable, colorless, and has a pungent smell. It is a minor constituent of many essential oils such as tur ...

from

pinene Pinene is a collection of unsaturated bicyclic monoterpenes. Two geometric isomers of pinene are found in nature, α-pinene and β-pinene. Both are chiral. As the name suggests, pinenes are found in pines. Specifically, pinene is the major compo ...

via a

Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement A Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement is a class of carbocation 1,2-rearrangement reactions in which a hydrogen, alkyl or aryl group migrates from one carbon to a neighboring carbon. They can be described as cationic ,2sigmatropic rearrangements, pro ...

. Similar methods were later used by Shering Company in the industrial synthesis.

Biographical work

Tishchenko was among the first biographers of Mendeleev, collaborating with Mikhail Nikolaevich Mladentsev to publish a biography in 1938, ''Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, его жизнь и деятельность'' (''Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, his life and work''). Though not published until later, Tishchenko and Mladentsev also wrote a second biography, ''Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, его жизнь и деятельность: Университетский период 1861-1890'' (''Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, his life and work: University period 1861-1890''). These biographies reprint several personal correspondences of Mendeleev's, and contain accounts of his professional and personal life, accentuated by the fact that Tishchenko knew and worked with Mendeleev.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tishchenko, Vyacheslav 1861 births 1941 deaths Scientists from Saint Petersburg Chemists from the Russian Empire Soviet chemists Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Stalin Prize winners