ISSN 0036�0236, Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 2014, Vol. 59, No. 7, pp. 643–646. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2014.Original Russian Text © N.T. Kuznetsov, 2014, published in Zhurnal Neorganicheskoi Khimii, 2014, Vol. 59, No. 7, pp. 832–835.

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In the history of the Academy of Sciences of theUSSR (AS USSR), 1934 was a year of great organiza�tional transformations. The main of them was themove of most of the institutions and the Presidium ofthe AS USSR from Leningrad to Moscow. But this wasnot simply the transfer of research institutions of theAS USSR from Leningrad to the capital city. Thisimportant event in the life of the national science wasaccompanied by significant rearrangement of thestructure of the branches and associations of the Acad�emy and by foundation of a variety of new institutions.Among the latter was the Institute of General andInorganic Chemistry (IGIC AS USSR).

Its foundation was not the formation of a wholenew academic research institution, but the consolida�tion of four academic collectives, namely, the Instituteof Physicochemical Analysis, founded in 1918 byN.S. Kurnakov (1860–1941); the Research Institutefor Platinum and Other Noble Metals, founded in1918 by L.A. Chugaev (1873–1922); the Laboratory ofGeneral Chemistry, founded in 1748 by M.V. Lomonosov(before 1924, the Chemical Laboratory of the ImperialSaint Petersburg and Russian Academy of Sciences);and the Physicochemical Branch of the High�PressureLaboratory, the latter being dissolved after the depar�ture of its founder, Academician V.N. Ipatieff (1867–1952), from the USSR in 1930. The consolidation ofthese scientific institutions was facilitated by two cir�cumstances: all of them were institutes of the ASUSSR and the first three of them (the largest ones)were headed by Academician N. S. Kurnakov, a distin�guished scholar, who became director of the IGIC ASUSSR and had been it until his death in 1941. In 1944,the Institute was awarded the name of its founder,N.S. Kurnakov.

Because the basis of the new Institute was the Insti�tute of Physicochemical Analysis and the Research

Institute for Platinum and Other Noble Metals, bothfounded in 1918, the IGIC AS USSR history is some�times counted from 1918 (by a long stretch of theimagination, it can even be counted from 1748, thefoundation year of the Laboratory of General Chem�istry, Imperial Academy of Sciences; this is all themore so, as the Laboratory was the only academicchemical research institution).

Anyway, the IGIC AS USSR was founded in 1934,and its foundation was for the AS USSR to have a well�respected center for the main research fields in generaland inorganic chemistry.

As already noted, the research areas of the IGICAS USSR were a collection of the main research fieldsof its predecessors: development of general issues ofthe methodology of physicochemical analysis of inor�ganic and organic systems; application of physico�chemical analysis to studying metal systems, salt equi�libria, and natural salt deposits, and also other systemsof organic and inorganic compositions; investigationof complex compounds for using them in chemistry,technology, and analysis of noble metals; study of thetrans effect and targeted synthesis of complexes ofgiven compositions and structures; methods for phys�icochemical studying aqueous and nonaqueous sys�tems, including high�pressure ones; and analyticalstudies.

Note that most of the Institute’s main objectivesformulated by N.S. Kurnakov 80 years ago are alsocurrently urgent.

The newly organized Institute comprised two Sec�tors (for Physicochemical Analysis and for PlatinumMetals), Laboratory of General Chemistry, and Labo�ratory of Silicon, the latter was separated as indepen�dent Institute of Silicate Chemistry, AS USSR. TheInstitute consisted of a total of 12 laboratories anddepartments, two Commissions (Refining and Analyt�

The 80th Anniversary of the Kurnakov Institute of Generaland Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences

N. T. KuznetsovKurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences,

Leninskii pr. 31, Moscow, 119991 Russia

e�mail: ntkuz@igic.ras.ru

Abstract—This article is devoted to the 80th anniversary of the Kurnakov Institute of General and InorganicChemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, and presents a brief history of its development from the foundationday to the present day and a review of the Institute’s main research areas. The contribution is characterizedthat was made by the Institute’s staff to chemical science and technology.

DOI: 10.1134/S0036023614070122

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ical), and Geometric Team. The Institute had highlyqualified personnel: of a total of 130 researchers of theInstitute, there were two Academicians (N.S. Kurna�kov and I.V. Grebenshchikov), two CorrespondingMembers of the AS USSR (I.I. Chernyaev andG.G. Urazov), 18 Doctors of Science, and 45 Candi�dates of Science.

The Institute’s employees had made a large andimportant (often fundamental) contribution todesigning new metallic materials and metallurgicalprocesses, developing the technology and analysis ofplatinum metals and creating the national platinummetal industry, studying natural salts and developingtheir processing technology, etc.

In 1941, at N. S. Kurnakov’s request, AcademicianI.V. Grebenshchikov was appointed interim director ofthe Institute for three months, and on June 25 the Cor�responding Member (Academician since 1943) of the ASUSSR I.I. Chernyaev, a professor L.A. Chugaev’s disci�ple, became head of the Institute.

During the Great Patriotic War, under severe con�ditions, scientists of the IGIC AS USSR had donemuch for the Front.

In the postwar years (1945–1962), along with thedevelopment of the conventional research areas, newfields emerged and evolved, in particular, chemistry ofsimple and complex hydrides as energy�rich sub�stances and materials; physical chemistry and tech�nology of heat�resistant alloys for jet aviation androcketry; chemistry and technology of semiconductormaterials; chemistry and technology of rare elements,including phosphates and fluorides of rare�earth met�als and rare elements; chemistry and technology ofoxidants; and some others. In each of these fields,using conventional research methods and developingnew ones, researchers of the IGIC AS USSR hadmade a great contribution to synthesizing new sub�stances and materials, designing new processes, anddeveloping the fundamentals of theoretical and exper�imental inorganic chemistry. The range of complexcompounds was significantly expanded by adding avariety of nonplatinum materials.

Particularly noticeable is the essential contributionof the Institute’s scientists headed by AcademicianI.I. Chernyaev to the chemistry of uranium, thorium,plutonium, zirconium, and beryllium; to the chemis�try and technology of fission product elements; etc.The Institute’s works on these subjects allowed theInstitute to create the physicochemical fundamentalsand processes of processing uranium and thorium rawmaterials, spent fuel, and other nuclear power engi�neering materials. These works are treasures of thenational science and technology of nuclear powerengineering. In these years, the Institute also consid�erably activated studies in quantum chemistry, theoryof chemical structure and reactivity of simple andcomplex compounds, physicochemical and physicalproperties of compounds, reaction kinetics, opticalactivity, spectral and magnetic properties, and others,

which expanded the range of applications of synthe�sized substances and materials.

Simultaneously, the Institute’s structure was beingimproved. After five metal science and metallurgicallaboratories were transferred in 1953 to the Institute ofMetallurgy, AS USSR, the works of the IGIC ASUSSR became more chemical. After the reorganiza�tion at the Institute, there were 20 laboratories, 15 ofwhich belonged to three Departments (of Physico�chemical Analysis, Chemistry of Platinum and Com�plex Compounds, and Chemistry of Rare Elements)and five reported directly to director of the Institute.

In 1962, Academician I.I. Chernyaev in accor�dance with his request was relieved of his duties of direc�tor of the Institute, and Academician N.M. Zhavor�onkov was appointed to this position. Previously,N.M. Zhavoronkov was rector of the Mendeleev Mos�cow Institute of Chemical Technology. NikolaiMikhailovich headed the IGIC AS USSR for morethan a quarter of a century, and this period is also char�acterized by great achievements in the Institute’s sci�entific, scientific�organizational, and economic activ�ities. At the Institute, N.M. Zhavoronkov created anew branch of science—theoretical foundations ofchemical engineering—which was developed at theLaboratory of Processes of Separation and Fine Puri�fication of Substances, This laboratory was transferredto the IGIC AS USSR from the Karpov Institute ofPhysical Chemistry, Ministry of Chemical Industry ofthe USSR. This Laboratory performed extensive stud�ies for developing the methods for calculating the masstransfer and flow dynamics of new�generation high�efficiency apparatuses for separation of mixtures,including film apparatuses; for exploring nonlinearphenomena in physicochemical fluid dynamics; cre�ating new chemical engineering processes; etc.

In 1965, the Optical Laboratory headed by Acade�mician I.V. Obreimov was transferred to the IGIC ASUSSR from the Institute of Organoelement Com�pounds, AS USSR. In the same year and 20 subse�quent years, a variety of Laboratories for investigationsin topical areas were organized: Structure of AqueousSolutions (1965), Synthesis of Compounds in Non�aqueous Media (1965), Metal Complex Catalysis(1974), Inorganic Fluorides (1980), High�Purity Sub�stances (1982), Physicochemical Studies of Rare Ele�ments (1985), Physical Chemistry of MacrocyclicComplexes and Their Analogues (1985), Chemistry ofBiologically Active Coordination Compounds, Mag�netic Materials (1986), Chemistry of Chalcogenides(1987), and a number of others.

More and more studies were made on the creationof new materials, materials science problems, funda�mental problems of general engineering, includingcatalysis, development of biologically active sub�stances, and so on. Structural units of the IGIC ASUSSR formed the basis for founding the Institute ofNew Chemical Problems of the AS USSR in Cher�nogolovka and the Interindustry Research Center for

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Technical Ceramics of the AS USSR in Moscow.These new academic institutions were founded andheaded by Academician N.M. Zhavoronkov.

A great achievement was the construction of a newbuilding for the Institute in the 1970s, which signifi�cantly improved the working conditions of the Insti�tute’s employees. The move to the new building wasaccompanied by a considerable upgrade of scientificequipment for X�ray spectral analysis, NMR, IR, andX�ray electron spectroscopy, and mass�spectrometry;a Computation Center equipped with several comput�ers was organized; and so on. All this favored a signifi�cant increase in the level of scientific research. Theinstitute’s scientists developed fundamentally newglassy laser materials based on phosphate glasses, newclasses of oxidants and solid sources of pure oxygen,efficient energy�rich substances, new catalysts andcatalytic processes, etc. New classes of complex com�pounds and clusters with unique physical, physico�chemical, and chemical properties and biologicalactivity were discovered. This list may be continued.

In 1989, Academician Yu.A. Zolotov was electeddirector of the Institute. The Institute’s structure wassignificantly corrected. Twenty eight laboratories weredistributed over four scientific directions: new sub�stances and materials, chemistry of coordination com�pounds, theoretical foundations of chemical engi�neering and chemical analysis methods, and studies ofsubstances and materials. Correspondingly, at theInstitute’s Academic Council, four sections were cre�ated for preliminarily discussing scientific, scientific�organizational, and personnel decisions.

Despite the severe conditions, under which thenational, including academic, science found itself in1991–1995, when the financing was reduced by anorder of magnitude and on the agenda was the ques�tion of survival, not only did the Institute preserve themain research areas and staff, but also it continued todevelop. Of special note is the strengthening (inessence, creation) of modern analytical base owing toAcademician Yu.A. Zolotov’s initiative. That is not tosay that, at the Institute, where the main research fieldwas targeted synthesis of substances and materials,there was no analytical chemistry; however, the analy�sis methods being developed concerned mostly plati�num and rare metals. The analysis problems weresolved by organizing Laboratory of Chemical Analysisand Laboratory of Spectral Studies and reorganizingthe Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry of PlatinumMetals. New analysis methods for determining notonly platinum metals, but also many other elements,were developed, and a number of important analyticaldevices were purchased.

The decade 1989–1999 can be characterized by avariety of important results in the scientific, scientific�organizational, and economic activities: design andphysicochemical investigation of high�temperaturesuperconducting materials; complex oxide systems formaterials with giant magnetoresistance, semiconduc�

tors, etc. A new Laboratory of Chemical Synergeticswas organized, a technology for using hydroxyapatitefor medical purposes, was developed, etc. Active theo�retical and experimental studies were begun fordesigning materials for chemical sensors for environ�mental and technological control.

Investigations in coordination chemistry resultedin synthesizing various new complexes of platinum,rare, rare�earth, and transition metals with a numberof important physical, physicochemical, chemical,and biological properties; Laboratory of Chemistry ofPolynuclear and Cluster Compounds was organized.Important results were obtained on the reactivity ofspatial�aromatic boron–hydrogen clusters.

In the area of the theoretical foundations of chem�ical engineering, extensive studies were made on thechemistry of extraction processes of separation andrecovery of platinum and other transition metals, andan integrated scheme was developed for producinghigh�purity arsenic from the products of detoxifica�tion of chemical agents.

In metal complex catalysis, direct proofs of the for�mation of singlet dioxygen in catalytic disproportion�ation of hydrogen peroxide were obtained for the firsttime.

The Institute’s researchers widely used X�ray spec�tral analysis, NMR, NQR, and EPR spectroscopy, andmass�spectrometry. Laboratory of Quantum Chemis�try and Laboratory of Chemistry of ParamagneticCompounds were organized. For more efficient use ofexpensive scientific equipment, a Shared FacilitiesCenter was organized as an independent structuralunit of the Institute.

In this difficult period, the Institute preserved thekey research staff despite significant reduction of thetotal number of employees: from 836 in 1991 to 573 in1999; the number of researchers reduced in this periodfrom 574 to 373.

The Institute had to solve a number of financialproblems by leasing of the Institute’s premises, whichallowed the Institute to fix the problem of ever�increasing utility payments.

The preservation of the key research staff and therecruitment of young employees enabled the Instituteto actively develop such important areas as the devel�opment of the physicochemical fundamentals andmethods for producing high�temperature ceramicmaterials and composites on their basis, nanosizedpolynuclear clusters and molecular magnets, nano�sized polyfunctional oxide materials for new mem�brane materials, highly selective catalysts for methaneconversion, etc.

IGIC always had close relations with the country’sinstitutions of higher education—as far back as the timesof N.S. Kurnakov and L.A. Chugaev, who came to theAcademy from such institutions (the Institute of Min�ing and the St. Petersburg University, respectively).

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The Institute’s leading scientists have been activelyparticipated in the research and educational activitiesin educational institutions: in the past, AcademiciansI.I. Chernyaev, A.A. Grinberg, I.V. Tananaev,G.G. Urazov, N.M. Zhavoronkov, Yu.A. Buslaev,Yu.D. Tret’yakov, and P.D. Sarkisov and the Corre�sponding Members of the Academy V.V. Lebedinskii,E.G. Ippolitov, A.F. Kapustinskii, and M.A. Porai�Koshits; and at the present time, AcademiciansI.I. Moiseev, Yu.A. Zolotov, A.Yu. Tsivadze,K.A. Solntsev, V.M. Novotortsev, and N.T. Kuznetsovand the Corresponding Members of the AcademyV.G. Sevast’yanov, A.B. Yaroslavtsev, A.E. Gekhman,and V.P. Meshalkin, and also numerous Doctors ofScience and Candidates of Science. The Institute isthe base organization for performing the research and

educational activities with students of the Faculty ofMaterials Science of the Moscow State University;Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy ofSciences, Lomonosov Moscow University of FineChemical Technology, Moscow Institute of Steel andAlloys, and Mendeleev Moscow University of Chem�ical Technology. Such creative collaboration favors asignificant increase in the level of training of graduatesand ensures the influx of purposefully trained youngresearch personnel to the Institute.

The Institute’s scientists actively participate in theinternational scientific collaboration; numerous inter�national and bilateral conferences, congresses,forums, and symposia; international salons of innova�tions; and collaboration with international firms.