Abstract
At the start of the twentieth century, organic chemistry was not yet 75 years old as a separate and legitimate sub-discipline of the science. Considerable progress had been made in these first seven decades, and the stage was set for the dramatic advances in the science to come in the following century. Most practicing organic chemists are familiar with many of the great German, French and English organic chemists whose work helped the fledgling discipline grow, but few are familiar with the role that Russian organic chemists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century played in the development of the science. And this is in spite of the fact that many of the named rules and reactions that one studies in the first course in organic chemistry are, in fact, of Russian origin. It is the intent of this book to help rectify that deficiency.
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Notes
- 1.
Shuvalov was a leader of the enlightenment in Russia following the death of Peter the Great. A favorite (and lover) of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna (r. 1741–1762), he was the first Russian Minister of Education, and was instrumental in establishing Moscow University, of which he became the first Curator. He was a strong patron of the arts, and Russia's first theater and its first Academy of Arts were established at his initiative; he served as President of the Academy of Arts from 1857–1862. The Gymnasia at St. Petersburg and Kazan' were also the results of his efforts.
- 2.
Hargittai I (2000) The great Soviet resonance controversy. In Hargittai M (ed) Candid Science: Conversations with Famous Chemists. Imperial College Press, London, pp 8–13.
- 3.
Sostoyanie teorii khimicheskogo stroeniya v organicheskoi khimii (The state of affairs of the theory of chemical structure in organic chemistry). Publishing House of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1952.
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Lewis, D.E. (2012). Beginnings. In: Early Russian Organic Chemists and Their Legacy. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(), vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28219-5_2
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