Markovnikov, Vladimir Vasilyevich (November 25 / December 13, 1837, town of Knyaginin, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate — February 11, 1904, Moscow) was a Russian organic chemist and one of the foremost theorists and experimentalists in 19th-century organic chemistry. A native of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate and a pupil of the Nizhny Novgorod Alexander Institute for the Nobility, he became a professor at Kazan and Moscow Universities and founded the Nizhny Novgorod Natural Science Circle.[2][4]

There are discrepancies regarding his exact date and place of birth: a number of early sources, including the scientist's own autobiography, give December 22 (New Style), 1838, and the village of Chernorechye in Balakhna Uyezd, near Nizhny Novgorod — where in 1837–1838 a battalion of the Belevsky Jaeger Regiment, in which the scientist's father served, was stationed.[4]

Education and the Start of His Scientific Career

In 1849, Markovnikov began his studies at the Nizhny Novgorod Institute for the Nobility and graduated in 1856.[4] He then entered the cameral department of the Faculty of Law at Kazan University, where in his third year, under the influence of A. M. Butlerov, who taught the chemistry course, he decided to devote himself to chemistry.[2] He graduated from the university in 1860 and, on Butlerov's recommendation, was kept on as his laboratory assistant; from 1862 he began lecturing on chemistry.[2]

In 1865, he defended his master's thesis, "On the Isomerism of Organic Compounds," after which, from 1865 to 1867, he was on a research trip to Germany, working in the laboratories of A. Baeyer (Berlin), E. Erlenmeyer (Heidelberg), and H. Kolbe (Leipzig).[2] In 1869, he defended his doctoral dissertation, "Materials on the Question of the Mutual Influence of Atoms in Chemical Compounds," and was elected associate professor, and then full professor.[2] In January 1869, after Butlerov's transfer to St. Petersburg, he took over as head of the Department of Chemistry at Kazan University.[2]

At the end of 1871, he resigned in protest against the actions of the university authorities. From 1871 to 1873 he taught at Novorossiya University in Odessa, and from 1873 until the end of his life he worked at Moscow University, where he headed the chemistry department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics and built the first large chemical laboratory in Russia, equipped for both practical instruction and scientific research.[1][2]

Scientific Discoveries

Markovnikov's central theoretical contribution was the formulation, in 1869, of the rules governing the direction of substitution, elimination, double-bond addition, and isomerization reactions depending on the chemical structure of the molecule — they entered science as Markovnikov's rule.[2][3] The key conclusion, set out in his doctoral dissertation, was that tertiary hydrogen atoms are substituted more readily than secondary ones, and secondary ones more readily than primary ones.[1]

In 1862–1867 he obtained new data on the isomerism of alcohols and fatty acids, discovered the oxides of a number of olefin hydrocarbons, and was the first to synthesize halogen and oxo derivatives of the isomers of butyric acid. In 1864, together with Erlenmeyer, he independently obtained the first isomeric organic acid of the ester series — isobutyric acid.[1] In 1879, together with G. A. Krestovnikov, he was the first to synthesize cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid — the first example of a molecule with a closed four-carbon ring.[1][2]

From 1880, Markovnikov began a systematic study of the composition of Caucasian petroleum, laying the foundations of petrochemistry as an independent science.[2][3] In 1883 he discovered a new class of organic substances — naphthenes, later renamed alicyclic compounds. He proved the existence of rings containing from 3 to 8 carbon atoms, established their mutual isomeric transformations, in 1889 was the first to obtain suberone, and in 1892 discovered the first isomerization reaction of cyclic hydrocarbons with ring contraction (cycloheptane to methylcyclohexane).[2][3]

Public and Organizational Activities

In 1868, Markovnikov became one of the founders of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society.[3] Under his leadership, more than one hundred studies were carried out in the Moscow laboratory, published mainly in the "Journal of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society" and in German publications — "Liebig's Annalen" and "Zeitschrift für Chemie."[1]

Nizhny Novgorod Connections

Markovnikov was born in the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate and received his secondary education in Nizhny Novgorod. His name is part of the local history tradition of Bolshemurashkinskiy District: in the Kishkinskaya school, located in the same area, the memory of the Markovnikov family was preserved; the building associated with this family ("the house of the lady Markovnikova") served as a school until 2010.[4] Sources describe the scientist as "the pride of the Bolshemurashkinskaya land."[4]

Sources

  1. ru.wikisource.org — ESBE/Markovnikov, Vladimir Vasilyevich — Wikisource (archive)
  2. chem.msu.ru — Vladimir Vasilyevich Markovnikov (archive)
  3. topwar.ru — Organic Chemist Vladimir Markovnikov (archive)
  4. музей.кфмл.рф — Markovnikov Vladimir Vasilyevich — KOGOAU KFML