Nikolai Kochetkov

Born May 5 (18), 1915, in Moscow. Soviet organic chemist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1960) and of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1957). Kochetkov graduated from the M. V. Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technology in Moscow in 1939. In 1966 he became director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

A specialist in organic synthesis, the chemistry of medicinal substances, and the chemistry of natural products, Kochetkov has developed a number of new methods of organic synthesis. He has synthesized antitubercular drugs (cycloserine and its analogues), anticonvulsants Chloracon and phenacon [JV-phenylethyl-beta-chloropropiamide]), and antiallergic drugs. He has also developed new methods of studying and synthesizing carbohydrates and nucleotides. Kochetkov was the first to carry out a directed synthesis of polysaccharides and develop methods for the chemical modification of nucleic acids. He was also the first to carry out the mass-spectrometric analysis of carbohydrates. His principal works (with other authors) are The Chemistry of Natural Products (1961), The Chemistry of Carbohydrates (1967), and The Organic Chemistry of Nucleic Acids (1970). Kochetkov has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and various medals.