I,
VLADIMIR N. IPATIEFF (1867- )
VLADIMIR IPATIEFF ARISTID V. GROSSE Research Laboratories of the Universal Oil Products Company, Riverside, Illinois
T
HE seventieth b i i d a y anniversary of Vladimir IpatiefT falls on November 21, 1937. As this note is written the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society is planning to celebrate this occasion a t its November meeting. It is, therefore, highly appropriate that a biographical sketch should appear a t this time. Ipatieff's birthplace is Moscow, Russia. He received his education in military schools, and in 1892 graduated from the Michailow cademy of Artillery in St. Petersburg. His chemical education was mostly selfimparted with the aid, mainly, of Mende16eff1s "Principles of Chemistry" and home experimentation in a small laboratory. After remaining several years a t the Academy, Ipatieff went in 1896 to study abroad. He was accepted a t the laboratory of Adolf von Baeyer in Munich, thanks to the recommendation of Schischkow, a personal friend of the latter. At that time von Baeyer's laboratory was a t the height of its glory. The old master, assisted by Johannes Thiele, famous for his theory of partial valences and W. Konigs, well known forhis researches on alkaloids, was recognized as the leader of organic chemistry. A host of young, eager students, among them Richard Willstiitter and Moses Gomberg, were assembled here. As a result of IpatiefT's stay a joint paper with von Baeyer on carbonic acid was published.' Early in 1897 IpatieiT went to Paris to study under Paul Vieille, well known for his discovery of smokeless gunpowder, and Emile Sarrau a t the Laboratoire Centrale des Poudres et Salpetres. On his return to St. Petersburg he continued his studies on unsaturated hydrocarbons, originally started a t the suggestion of Professor A. E. Favorsky. His fir~t~important and original contribution was the deterA.
VON
BBYER AND V. N. IPATEPP.Ber.. 29.2796 (1896).
mination of the constitution of, and the synthesis of, isoprene, the mother hydrocarbon of natural rubber.% His interest in unsaturated hydrocarbons led him, in 1930, to investigate Thiele's method for the preparation of 1,3-butadiene by the pyrolysis of isoamyl alcohol. He immediately noticed a profound influence of the walls of the reaction tubes on the nature of the pyrolytic reactions, and this observation led him on a trail of highly important contributions to chemistry. Here Ipatieff's peculiar and sharp chemical instinct manifested itself for the first time in a particularly striking way. He began a series of investigations entitled "pyrogenetic contact reactions of organic compounds," published simultaneously in the Journal of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society and the "Berichte" of the German Chemical S ~ c i e t y . ~ Herein he recognized, beiore auy of his contemporaries tht oussibilitv oi direct in^ " the ~vrolvtic , decomnosition of organic compounds toward de25nite desired products by means of suitable catalysts. For instance, metals, giving easily reducible oxides, e. g., copper and zinc, catalyze. the dehydrogenation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones according to the general equations:
.,
or
-
+ +
RCHrOH + RCH: 0 H, R'(Rr)CH.OH R'R'IC: 0 HZ
On the other hand, diicultly reducible oxides of metals, formingeasily decomposable hydrates, e. g., alumina, are able to dehydrate alcohols selectively and quantitatively into olefins and water according to the scheme:
In order to realize the great theoretical and practical importance of these results, one must remember that a t that time the general opinion among chemists was that pyrolytic reactions proceed a t random, leading to all sorts of decomposition products, such as carbon, hydrogen, methane, ethylene, water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, etc., and that they cannot be controlled. In the attempt to study the reversibiiity of some of his newly discovered reactions, IpatieiT became highly interested in the introduction of high pressures as a new factor in chemistry. After a number of attempts, he finally developed, in 1903-04, his famous high-pressure bomb with the simple ring closure (see figure), which was destined to become the test-tube of highpressure chemists. Working with pressures up to 500
1903); etc
Reading from right to left in the front raw, the first four are, in order, V. Ipatieff, W. Kanigs, Adolf von Baeyer, and Johannes Thiele. Second from the right in the second row is R. Willstiitter, and third from the right in the third row, Moses Gomberg
atmospheres and temperatures up to 500°, IpatieE was able to demonstrate the fundamental and general importance of pressure in chemical reactions. Ipatieff's studies on dehydrogenation naturally brought him in close contact with catalytic hydrogenation of organic compounds, a field which was being brilliantly developed a t the same time by the Frenchmen, P. Sabatier and J. B. Senderens. Hydrogen under high pressure allowed the reactions to proceed much more rapidly, and, in a number of cases, farther than under the conditions of Sabatier. The further development of these pioneering experiments in the hands of Friedrich Bergius, assisted hy the enormous technical and financial resources of the I. G. Farbenindustrie finally led to the modern process of liquefaction of coal. A continuation of his catalytic studies led I p a t i 5 in 1912 to demonstrate in a striking example the promoter action4 of catalysts on one another. The simultaneous use of nickel oxide as a hydrogenating catalyst, and alumina as a dehydrating catalyst, allowed him to obtain in one step, under much milder conditions V. IP~rmaa,Ber., 45,3205 (1912).
than theretofore, the hydrocarbon isocamphane from the alcohol borneol. The World War interrupted Ipatieff's scientific work. Soon after the beginning of the War, he was put in charge of the chemical defenses and ammunition supply of his country. The years of the Revolution and Civil War, 1918-20, were a period of inactivity and gloom. In 1921, Lenin, himself, called Ipatieff to take part in the reconstruction of the country. In the position of Director of the Chemical Administration of the Supreme Economic Council of the U. S. S. R., Ipatieff took an extremely active part in building up, practically "from scratch," the chemical industry of Russia. In 1927 he organized the Institute of High Pressures in Leningrad. There, for the first time with a large number of co-workers he was able to push his highpressure experiments into the field of inorganic chemistry, besides continuing his organic studies. His frequent journeys to diierent European countries, mainly Germany, brought him in contact with an ever-increasing number of personalities in different (Pleue turn to page 594)
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fields of human endeavor and aroused in h i an everwidening interest in problems of the chemical industry. In 1928, he, without reliiquishimg his posts in Russia, became consultant to the Bayerische Stickstoffwerke. In their laboratory in Berlin he invented and developed a process for the oxidation of phosphorus with water to phosphoric acid--of great interest to the artificial fertilizer industry and I. G. Farbenindustrie. Already in previous years I p a t i d , like his great inspirer, Dimitri Mendel@, had a keen desire to visit the United States of America. This wish was realized in 1930, when Ipatieff visited America and became interested in modem problems of the oil industry. The following year, after his return from Europe, I p a t i d became definitely associated with Northwestern University and the Universal O'i Products Company. Since then he has resided in Chicago and has recently become a citizen of the United States. In the Laboratories of the Company a t Riverside, Illinois, he started several investigations on hydrocarbons, aided by a number of enthusiastic co-workers. It would be premature to discuss these researches5 at the present time. It may be said, however, that the investigation of the catalytic chemistry of unsaturated hydrocarbons led Ipatieff to a polymerization process which is already employed all over the world in conA part of them is described in his recent book, "Catalytic reactions at high pressures and temperatures," The Macmillan Company. New Yark City, 1936.
verting millions of cubic feet of cracked gases, heretofore wasted, into valuable gasoline. For his contributions I p a t i d has received international recognition. He was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg in 1915. He became a member of the Giittingen Academy of Science in 1922, and received the Honorary Doctor's degree of the University of Munich in 1927, and of the University of Strasbourg in 1929. In 1931 he was elected an Honorary Member of the Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft. For his achievements in the World War the French Government named him Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1916. The Society of Chemical Industry of France awarded him the Marcellin Berthelot Medal. Introduced as a young officer to Tzar Alexander 111, having frequent personal conferences with Tzar Nicolaus I1 during the World War, being called back to work by Lenin, and conferring with Trotzky during the years of Revolution, Ipatieff looks back on an experience of seven decades practically unique. However, this is not the place to relate the numerous interesting incidents in the life of Ipatieff. We would like on this occasion to express the wish of his fellow chemists that the old pioneer, rejuvenated by his contact with America, may work for many more years with his typical energy and enthusiasm for the benefit of his dearly beloved science, chemistry.
