Aleksandr Porfirevich Borodin (1833-1887) was a chemist and musician who had essential contributions to the field of organic chemistry. He was a student at the Academy of Medicine and Surgery in St. Petersburg, and he specialized in chemistry due to the influence of chemist Nikolai Zinin whom Borodin admired. In 1856 he was appointed an assistant to the professor of pathology and therapeutics. He presented his thesis entitled “The Analogies between Arsenious Acid and Phosphorous Acid” to the Academy and he received the degree of Doctor in Medicine in May 1858. He decided not to be a practicing physician but to dedicate his time to research in chemistry. In 1859 he went to study abroad, and he spent one winter in Heidelberg working with Emil Erlenmeyer. In 1862 Borodin was appointed an assistant professor of organic chemistry at the Academy of Medicine and Surgery, and he became a professor in 1864, Borodin communicated the synthesis of monobrominated derivatives of valeric and butyric acids to the Société Chimique de Paris on November 23, 1860. Eighty years later, Heinz and Clare Hunsdiecker re-discovered Borodin’s reaction which they also patented. Borodin reported the aldol reaction in 1869. Charles Adolphe Wurtz also reported the aldol reaction in 1872, and generally, the aldol reaction is credited to both Brodin and Wurtz. One less known contribution of Borodin to chemistry is the development of a method to determine the nitrogen content of clinical samples which is based on the oxidation of present urea using a mixture of bromine and sodium hydroxide. This method was adopted and used in clinical laboratories. In this talk, Borodin’s essential contributions to organic chemistry will be discussed by carefully analyzing the first reports of Borodin-Hunsdiecker and aldol reactions.

Borodin’s contributions to organic chemistry

2019 Fall National Meeting

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