Boris Arbuzov

Born Oct. 22 (Nov. 4), 1903, in Moscow. Soviet organic chemist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953; corresponding member, 1943). Son and student of A. E. Arbuzov.

B. A. Arbuzov graduated from the Kazan Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in 1926. From 1935 to 1938 he was a professor at the Kazan Institute of Chemical Technology; in 1938 he became a professor at the University of Kazan. He is director of the Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and director of the A.M. Butlerov Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry at the University of Kazan. Arbuzov defended his doctor’s dissertation (1937) on the subject of Research in the Field of Isomeric Conversions of Bicyclic Terpene Hydrocarbons and Their Oxides. Author of more than 400 scientific published works, Arbuzov conducts studies in several areas of organic and physical chemistry. He discovered the isomerization of the bicyclic terpene α-pinene to aliphatic terpenallocymene and the isomerization of the oxide of α-pinene to compholene aldehyde. He conducted many studies on the chemistry of Δ-carene. Together with A. N. Pudovik, Arbuzov discovered the reaction in which the acidic esters of the acids of phosphorus combine with nonspecific compounds. Together with A. O. Vizel, Arbuzov discovered the reaction in which trihaloid derivatives of phosphorus combine with dienes. Arbuzov studied diene synthesis and the reactions of α-chloroesters and benzoylisocyanate with dienes. He has studied the structures and, specifically, the conformations of terpenes and heterocyclic compounds. He was a deputy to the seventh convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR in 1951, he was awarded two Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.