Nikolay Zinin: Russian Chemist and Pioneer of Aniline

Nikolay Zinin was a prominent Russian chemist known for his work in organic chemistry, particularly the Zinin reaction, a process for reducing nitroaromatics to amines. He also played a significant role in the identification of aniline and was a renowned educator, mentoring the young Alfred Nobel.

Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin
Nikolay Zinin
Born	(1812-08-25)25 August 1812 Shusha, Elizavetpol Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	18 February 1880(1880-02-18) (aged 67) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	University of Kazan
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Kazan University of Saint Petersburg
Doctoral advisor	Justus Liebig
Doctoral students	Alexander Borodin Aleksandr Butlerov

Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Зи́нин; 25 August 1812 – 18 February 1880) was a Russian organic chemist.

Life

Zinin was born in Shusha where his father served as diplomatic employee. Nicolay became orphan after cholera pandemic when his parents and sister died. 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 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.

Work

He is known for the so-called Zinin reaction or Zinin reduction, in which nitro aromates like nitrobenzene are converted to amines by reduction with ammonium sulfides. In 1842 Zinin played an important role in identifying aniline.