chemistry

Nikolay Zinin

Nikolay Zinin is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nikolay Zinin rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Nikolay Zinin belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nikolay Zinin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nikolay Zinin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

References

External links Biography Biography Biography

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nikolay Zinin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nikolay Zinin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nikolay Zinin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nikolay Zinin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nikolay Zinin

In research: Nikolay Zinin appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nikolay Zinin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nikolay Zinin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1812 births, 1880 deaths, Chemist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nikolay Zinin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nikolay Zinin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nikolay Zinin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nikolay Zinin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nikolay Zinin in simple terms?

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.

Why does Nikolay Zinin matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nikolay Zinin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nikolay Zinin.