Lev Isaevich Krishtalik (1927-2022) graduated from Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology in 1948, in the midst of “anti-cosmopolitants” compaign, which prevented his employment in academic research. He spent long time in the Institute of Chlorine industry, woking on chlorine electrolysis. His interest in basic electrochemical kinetics developed in parallel, in particular, under the influence of Frumkin’s lectures, which he attended in 1951. An example of his early article on his favorite topic, the elementary act of hydrogen evolution, can be foumd in Zhurnal Fizicheskoi Khimii. 1960. V. 32. P. 117-126 (in Russian).
Krishtalik’s early works in Frumkin Institute were devoted to both hydrogen evolution and complex anodic reactions, but making the same concessions for both topics: the final goal was to understand the elementary act of the charge transfer step.
There are excellent Krishtalik’s memoirs (in Russian) published by his young collaborator Vassily Ptushenko
In 1964, Frumkin found a possibility to invite Krishtalik to the Institute of Electrochemistry. A number of the articles of his early academic period, published in Russian, are collected below (translated versions).
Bystrov V.I., Krishtalik L.I. Hydrogen overvoltage on silver at low current densities. II. Temperature dependence of the process rate // Sov. Electrochemistry. 1968. V. 4. P. 205-208. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1968. V. 4. P. 233-237. This is related to Krishtalik’s findings of barrierless <barrier-free> discharge.
Krishtalik L.I. Interpreting data on the anodic evolution of oxygen // Sov. Electrochemistry. 1968. V. 4. P. 212-214. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1968. V. 4. P. 240-242.
Titova G.V., Krishtalik L.I. Kinetics of anodic oxidation of the azide ion // Sov. Electrochemistry. 1968. V. 4. P. 249-252. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1968. V. 4. P. 285-289.
Krishtalik L.I. Mechanism for removal of hydrogen atoms formed during barrier-free discharge of hydronium ions // Sov. Electrochemistry. 1968. V. 4. P. 793-795. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1968. V. 4. P. 877-879.
Erenburg R.G., Krishtalik L.I. Investigation of the kinetics of the anodic evolution of chlorine on nonporous graphite // Sov. Electrochemistry. 1968. V. 4. P. 832-837. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1968. V. 4. P. 923-929.
Krishtalik L.I. Determination of absolute ionic entropies from kinetic data // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 1-4. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 3-7.
Eberil’ V.I., Kokoulina D.V., Krishtalik L.I., Elina L.M. The problem of the reasons for the increased internal wear of the graphite anodes in the electrochemical preparation of chlorate // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 304-307. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 336-340. Valentin Isaakovich Eberil’ (1937-2021) later became a well-known expert in chlorine industry, this article is a part of his 1970 PhD thesis.
Bystrov V.I., Krishtalik L.I. Potential decay ater current shutoff when the polarization curve has two Tafel regions with different slopes // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 355-358. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 392-395.
Krishtalik L.I.,Tsionskii V.M. Hydrogen-isotope separation factor and mechanism of the elementary act // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 961. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 1019. This is a single page preliminary communication.
Tsionskii V.M., Krishtalik L.I. The effect of electrical double-layer structure on hydrogen isotope separation at a mercury cathode in acid solutions // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 1123-1126. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 1184-1187.
Tsionskii V.M., Krishtalik L.I. Electrolytic separation of hydrogen isotopes in alkaline solution // Sov. Electrochem. 1969. V. 5. P. 1428. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1969. V. 5. P. 1501-1502. This is a single page preliminary communication.
Tsionskii V.M., Krishtalik L.I. Influence of the nature of a metal on the separation factor of hydrogen isotopes // Sov. Electrochem. 1970. V. 6. P. 255-257. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1970. V. 6. P. 265-268.
Krishtalik L.I. Role of psi1-effects in the kinetics of the electrode processes // Sov. Electrochem. 1970. V. 6. P. 1132-1134. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1970. V. 6. P. 1165-1168.
Krishtalik L.I. Charge transfer reactions accompanied by a change in the coordinates of a heavy particle // Sov. Electrochem. 1970. V. 6. P. 496-502. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1970. V. 6. P. 507-515.
Krishtalik L.I. Charge transfer reactions accompanied by a change in the coordinates of a heavy particle. II // Sov. Electrochem. 1970. V. 6. P. 1135-1139. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1970. V. 6. P. 1168-1172. Part I (no number in the title) is the previous item.
Krishtalik L.I. Coefficients of separation of isotopes and the mechanism of the liberation <evolution> of hydrogen // Sov. Electrochem. 1970. V. 6. P. 1406-1410. Russian version: Elektrokhimiya. 1970. V. 6. P. 1456-1461.
Krishtalik’s collaborators
Ninel’ Mikhailovna Alpatova (1933-2014) joined the Institute in 1959, and started her work with Yuryi Mikhailovich Kessler (1924-2002), who was a solution chemistry person <he left the Institute in 1970, and his most known affiliation is the Institute of Solutions Chemistry in Ivanovo>. Her PhD (1965) addressed silicon compounds and anodic behavior of silicon in aprotic solvents. She also published with Kessler on the conductivity of non-aqueous solutions and on the solution behavior of aluminum compounds in aprotic media, including hexamethylphosphortriamide. This solvent was accented in her further systematic research jointly with L.I. Krishtalik (generation of solvated electrons) and A.V. Vannikov (spectroscopy of solvated electrons). Her DSc thesis (1982) is named “Electrode reactions of solvated electrons”. The development of these studies resulted in a series of works on solvation, especially for the model cobaltocene/cobaltocenium system. Starting from 1990s, she was dealing with electropolymerization, photoelectrochemistry of conducting polymers and relative organic materials.
Rudolf Georgievich Erenburg (1937-1997) PhD 1975 on chlorine evolution and ionisation kinetics
Larisa Aleksandrovna Khanova
Vladimir Mikhailovich Tsionsky His earliest article is co-authored with L.M. Yakimenko (1907-2003), a key electrolysis person in the Institute of Chlorine Industry. This article contains the data of tritium monitoring in Moscow rainfall in 1962-1963, with the use of electrolysis for isotope enrichment of the samples.
