Irina Beletskaya

Irina Petrovna Beletskaya (; born 10 March 1933) is a Soviet and Russian professor of chemistry at Moscow State University. She specializes in organometallic chemistry and its application to problems in organic chemistry. She is best known for her studies on aromatic reaction mechanisms, as well as work on carbanion acidity and reactivity. She developed some of the first methods for carbon-carbon bond formation using palladium or nickel catalysts, and extended these reactions to work in aqueous media. She also helped to open up the chemistry of organolanthanides.

Academic career Beletskaya was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia) in 1933. She obtained the Candidate of Chemistry (analogous to Ph.D.) degree in 1958. For this degree she investigated electrophilic substitution reactions. More specifically, she explored the influence of ammonia on a-bromomercurophenylacetic acid reactions. In 1970 she became a Full Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University, where she currently serves as head of the Organoelement Chemistry Laboratory. Beletskaya was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Science of USSR in 1974. In 1992 she became a full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She is editor-in chief of the Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Beletskaya initially researched the reaction mechanisms of organic reactions, focusing on compounds with metal-carbon bonds.

Research contributions Beletskaya is known for her foundational contributions to organometallic chemistry and as one of the first prominent female chemists. Her work helped pave the way for women in Russia to participate in the scientific community. Her pioneering role in organometallic synthesis has laid an essential foundation for future organic chemists. Her work advocating for rare-earth elements in organic chemistry led to the publication of many new textbooks, changing how organic chemistry is taught everywhere. Pd-Catalyzed amination of dibromobiphenyls in the synthesis of macrocycles comprising two biphenyl and two polyamine moieties The influence of the substituents in the electrofilic bimolecular reaction New trends in the cross-coupling and other catalytic reactions

Honors and awards

Source:

Lomonosov Prize, 1974. Mendeleev Prize, 1979. Nesmeyanov Prize, 1991. Demidov Prize, 2003. State Prize, 2004. IUPAC 2013 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award, 2013.