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EPR in the USSR: the thorny path from birth to biological and chemical applications

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Abstract

In 1944, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was discovered by Evgenii Konstantinovich Zavoisky in the USSR (Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics). Since then, magnetic resonance methods have contributed invaluably to our knowledge in many areas of Life Sciences and Chemistry, and particularly in the area of photosynthesis research. However, the road of the magnetic resonance methods, as well as its acceptance in Life Sciences and Chemistry, was not smooth and prompt in the (former) USSR. We discuss the role played by many including Jakov K. Syrkin, Nikolai N. Semenov, Vladislav V. Voevodsky, Lev A. Blumenfeld, Peter L. Kapitza, and Alexander I. Shalnikov during the early stages of biological and chemical EPR spectroscopy in the USSR.

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Fig. 1

Source: Archives of the Russian Academy of Science (ARAS 1969)

Fig. 2

Source: Personal archive of N.E. Zavoiskaya; photo by M.L. Blatt

Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Source: Personal archive of N.A. Tikhomirova (Shalnikova)

Fig. 5

Source: Memorial Museum of P.L. Kapitza in IPP. Photo provided by T.I. Balakhovskaya

Fig. 6

Source: Archive of RAS (ARAS 1968, p. 2)

Fig. 7

Source: Personal archive of S.E. Shnoll; photo by S.E. Shnoll

Fig. 8

Source: Personal archive of M.V. Voevodskaya

Fig. 9

Source: Personal archive of M.V. Voevodskaya

Fig. 10

Source: Personal archive of Yu.N Molin

Fig. 11

Source: Personal archive of E.K. Ruuge

Fig. 12

Source: personal collection of V.V. Ptushenko

Fig. 13

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Notes

  1. Both the authors are simply delighted with the care with which Govindjee has corrected their text, and with tremendous diligence – he worked almost twenty-four-hour a day, and always found time to answer letters, even during his trips. It was very interesting for the authors to work with him on this article, though it was difficult to always meet the bar he set for them. Happy 85th birthday to Govindjee on October 24, 2017!

Abbreviations

AICP:

Archive of N.N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics

ARAS:

Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences

CIAMT:

Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training

EPR:

Electron paramagnetic resonance

ICP:

Institute of Chemical Physics (now N.N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

IPP:

Institute for Physical Problems (now P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

KIPC:

Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry

LPI:

P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute

MSU:

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

RAS:

The Russian Academy of Sciences

RSAE:

Russian State Archive of the Economy

USSR:

Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics

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Acknowledgements

One of the authors (N.Z.) is grateful to Irina I. Abrikosova for her unique memories from the far-away past. The other author (V.P.) expresses his gratitude to Anatoly L. Buchachenko, Nina P. Danilova, Alexander A. Dubinskii, Alexander L. Kovarsky, Georgy B. Pariiskii, Viktor A. Radtsig, Olga P. Samoilova, Vladimir L. Sharygin, Valery F. Tarasov, Alexander N. Tikhonov, Yuri D. Tsvetkov, Anatoly F. Vanin, and Boris V. Yastrebov for providing him with some of the material used in this paper. He also thanks Tatiana I. Balakhovskaya, Yuri N. Molin, Enno K. Ruuge, Natali A. Tikhomirova (Shalnikova), Igor I. Silkin, and Marianna V. Voevodskaya for valuable information and the photographs used in this paper. In addition, he is obliged to the staff, especially to Tatiana N. Lapteva and Yulia B. Chugunova, of the library and archive of the Institute of Chemical Physics and the archive of the Russian Academy of Science, for their help in finding the necessary material. Last, but not the least, he recognizes S.E. Shnoll for his constant help and support over the years. He is highly indebted to his own destiny of meeting many wonderful people, and to have given here a touch of living history. This manuscript was invited and edited by Govindjee, who had met Barry Commoner (1917–2012; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Commoner) during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and had heard about the status of science in USSR from Eugene Rabinowitch (1898 (1901)–1973; for contributions of Rabinowitch to photochemistry, photosynthesis and peace in the world, see Bannister 1972, Brody 1995, Govindjee 2004, and Rabinowitch 2005). However, Govindjee remarked that “Rabinowitch (1945, 1951a, b, 1956) had not mentioned electron spin (or paramagnetic) resonance (ESR, EPR), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in his all-encompassing 2088 page 3-volume book on Photosynthesis”; these books may be downloaded from: http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/g/Books.html. Furthermore, Govindjee’s keen interest in the History of Photosynthesis Research (see, e.g., Govindjee et al. 2005) and his own curiosity through his attempts to check on the potentials of using NMR (and ESR) in his own research (see, e.g., Wydrzynski et al. 1976, 1978, Khanna et al. 1981, 1983, published with one of the giants of NMR, Herbert S. Gutowsky (1919–2000)) led to this invitation to us to write this historical article. The preparation of this manuscript was supported by Russian Science Foundation (project 14-50-00029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, 119234

    Vasily Vitalievich Ptushenko

  2. Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 4, Moscow, Russia, 119334

    Vasily Vitalievich Ptushenko

  3. Moscow, Russia

    Nataliya Evgenievna Zavoiskaya

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  1. Vasily Vitalievich Ptushenko
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  2. Nataliya Evgenievna Zavoiskaya
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Correspondence to Vasily Vitalievich Ptushenko.

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This historical review was invited, edited, and accepted by Govindjee (e-mail: gov@illinois.edu) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; it was reviewed by two anonymous reviewers, and further edited by William W. Adams III of the University of Colorado, USA, before its publication.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Timeline of the key discoveries and work on magnetic resonance

In this list we mention the key events or publications involving the Soviet scientists. The world-wide events are mentioned only as milestones. As the magnetic resonance studies remained relatively limited and undiversified until the mid-1950s, we highlight here events in the development of both EPR and NMR.

1936—C.J. Gorter reported the “Negative result of an attempt to detect nuclear magnetic spins”.

1939—I.I. Rabi reported observing magnetic resonance in molecular beams.

1941 (June)—E.K. Zavoisky with S.A. Altshuler and B.M. Kozyrev observed proton magnetic resonance; however, the NMR signals were not reproducible.

1941 (June)—The war between Germany and the USSR started and terminated the work of E.K. Zavoisky with coworkers.

1944 (January)—E.K. Zavoisky discovered EPR.

1944 (December)–1945 (January)—First oral reports of Zavoisky on the EPR discovery.

1945 (June; July)—First articles of Zavoisky on the EPR discovery published in English.

1946 (January)—E.M. Purcell et al. and F. Bloch et al. reported about the discovery of NMR.

1946 (September)—R.L. Cummerow and D. Halliday reported about their observation of EPR; here, Zavoisky’s work was cited for the first time.

1947—First publication on chemical magnetic resonance in the USSR (Kozyrev and Salikhov 1947).

1948—Unsuccesful attempt by Y.K. Syrkin to organize EPR-based research in chemistry at the Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry.

1949—Russian edition of Gorter’s book (Paramagnetic Relaxation) was published.

1950—Beginning of NMR research in S.D. Gvozdover’s group at MSU (which resulted in active research on chemical NMR beginning later in the 1960s).

1953—Beginning of EPR research (presumably of inorganic crystals) at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute by A.M. Prokhorov, A.A. Manenkov, and M.E. Zhabotinskii (later at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics).

1954—Beginning of magnetic resonance (both EPR and NMR) research at the Institute of Chemical Physics.

1957—First publication on biological magnetic resonance in the USSR (Blumenfeld 1957).

1957—First publication on chemical magnetic resonance in the USSR beyond the Kazan scientific school (Tsvetkov et al. 1957).

Appendix 2: A partial (alphabetical) list of those attending the seminar talk on December 30, 1944, and the doctoral defense of Evgenii K. Zavoisky on January 30, 1945 (ARAS 1944, 1945; Zavoiskaya 2007, pp. 35–65)

E.L. Andronikashvili, S.E. Bresler, G.N. Flyorov, G.S. Gorelik, A.F. Ioffe, P.L. Kapitza, E.I. Kondorsky, M.I. Kornfeld, G.M. Kovalenko, L.D. Landau, G.S. Landsberg, V.L. Levshin, E.M. Lifshitz, A.B. Migdal, K.I. Narbutt, S.M. Rytov, N.N. Semenov, A.I. Shalnikov, E.V. Shpolsky, Ya.A. Smorodinsky, S.I. Vavilov, V.I. Veksler, and Ya.B. Zeldovich.

Appendix 3: A partial list of soviet institutes from which those attending the seminar talk on December 30, 1944, and E.K. Zavoisky’s thesis defense on January 30, 1945, came (ARAS 1944, 1945; Zavoiskaya 2007, pp. 35–65)

  • N.N. Semenov’s Institute of Chemical Physics.

  • A.F. Ioffe’s Physical-Technical Institute in Leningrad (now the Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

  • O.Yu. Schmidt’s Institute of Theoretical Geophysics (a year later it merged with the Seismological Institute to form the Geophysical Institute, which afterwards became the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics).

  • Institute of Geological Sciences (now Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

  • Laboratory of Geochemical Problems (2 years later reorganized to Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry).

  • State University of Gorky (now Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod).

  • “Laboratory №2” (now I.V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy).

  • Moscow State V.I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute (now Moscow State Pedagogical University).

  • Institute of Physics of Lomonosov Moscow State University (was liquidated in 1954).

  • Institute for Physical Problems (now P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

  • P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute.

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Ptushenko, V.V., Zavoiskaya, N.E. EPR in the USSR: the thorny path from birth to biological and chemical applications. Photosynth Res 134, 133–147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-017-0432-5

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