Porai-Koshits, Aleksandr

Born Sept. 26 (Oct. 8), 1877, in Kazan; died Apr. 17, 1949, in Leningrad. Soviet organic chemist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1935; corresponding member, 1932).

In 1903, Porai-Koshits graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where he taught from 1905 until his death; he became a professor there in 1918. In 1941 he was appointed head of the laboratory of intermediate products and dyes at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Porai-Koshits studied the mobility of hydrogen atoms in methylene and methyl groups of aromatic and heterocyclic compounds during condensation and nitrogen coupling. He synthesized a number of dyes, proposed reasons for the chromaticity of organic dyes, developed the quinonoid classification of dyes, and introduced the term krasitel’ (“dye”) into Russian. He also demonstrated the existence of a chemical interaction between dyes and fibers of protein origin and proposed a method of obtaining furfural. He played a role in the creation of the domestic aniline dye industry.

Porai-Koshits was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1943), the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.