Butlerov and His Theory of Chemical Structure

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Modern chemistry was slower to develop than astronomy and physics. It began in the 17th and 18th centuries when Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804), who discovered oxygen in 1774, and Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691) began to record and publish the results of their experiments and to discuss their theories openly.

Boyle, who has been called the founder of modern chemistry, was one of the first to practice chemistry as a true science. He believed in the experimental method. In his most important book, “The Sceptical Chemist”, he clearly distinguished between an element and a compound or mixture. Boyle is the best known today for the gas law that bears his name.

A French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), placed the science on a firm foundation with experiments in which he used a chemical balance to make quantitative measurements of the weights of substances involved in chemical reactions. The use of the chemical balance by Lavoisier and others later in the 18th century was almost as revolutionary in chemistry as the use of the telescope had been in astronomy. Thereafter, chemistry became a quantitative experimental science. Lavoisier also contributed greatly to the organization of chemical data, to chemical nomenclature, and to the establishment of the law of conservation of massin chemical changes.

During the period from 1803 to 1810, John Dalton (1766-1844), an English schoolteacher, advanced his atomic theory. This theory placed the atomistic concept of matter on a valid rational basis. It remains today as a tremendously important general concept of modern science. Since the time of Dalton, knowledge of chemistry has advanced in great strides, with the most rapid advancement occurring at the end of the 19th century and during the 20th century.

Especially outstanding achievements have been made in determining the structure of atom, understanding the biochemical fundamentals of life, developing chemical technology, and mass production of chemicals and related products.

Vocabulary List

to distinguish – различать, проводить различие;

compound – соединение;

to bear one’s name – носить чьё-либо имя;

quantitative measurements – количественные измерения;

to involve – вовлекать;

quantitative experiments science – количественная экспериментальная наука;

the law of conservation of mass – закон сохранения массы;

great strides – большие успехи.

A. M. Butlerov wasborn in 1828 in the town of Chistopol. In 1849 he graduated from the Kazan University, where he studied under the prominent Russian chemists K. Klaus and N. Zinin. After graduation Butlerov was left at the University and soon he began to deliver lectures in chemistry. For his prominent scientific merits Butlerov was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

From the very first steps of his scientific activities Butlerov showed himself to be a brilliant experimentor and carried out a number of remarkable syntheses.

Butlerov put forth a number of profound and daring ideas in the field of theoretical chemistry.

The essence of Butlerov's theory consists in the statement that the properties of substances depend not only on their qualitative and quantitative composition, as was thought previously, but on their internal molecular structure as well, and on how the atoms, making up the molecule, are linked with each other. Butlerov, called this internal arrangement "chemical structure ". Butlerov's theory of chemical structure of molecules is the theoretical foundation of organic chemistry.

Vocabulary List

scientific merits – научные заслуги;

to be elected – быть избранным;

daring ideas – смелые, дерзкие идеи;

essence of smth. – суть чего-либо;

internal molecular structure – внутренняя молекулярная структура.

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