Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry, Vol. 31, No. 6, 1995

V. D. POKHODENKO (SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY)

Highly Respected Vitalii Dmitrievich,

The Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Department of Chemistry of the National Academy

of Sciences of Ukraine, the L. V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of

Ukraine, and the editorial staff of the Journal "Teoreticheskaya i l~ksperimental'naya Khimiya" sincerely congratulate you on

your sixtieth birthday.

Your scientific work has been associated intimately with the L. V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, where you progressed from post-graduate to Academician and Director of the

Institute, having become the worthy successor of your eminent tutor Academician of the Ukrainian SSR A. I. Brodskii.

Under your leadership over the course of many years researches were conducted with great success into a wide range

of problems connected with the theory of chemical structure, kinetics, and reactivity, the theory of intermolecular reactions,

electrochemistry, photochemistry, and homogeneous catalysis, making a considerable contribution to the development of these

disciplines.

You and your students have been preeminent in the discovery of a whole series of fundamentally new effects and

phenomena: the "nonclassical" ability of free radicals to enter into oxidation-reduction reactions with each other was

substantiated experimentally for the first time; the appearance of electromotive forces and electric current in electrochemical

cells composed of free radicals was predicted and observed; the concept of the possible homogeneous catalysis of various

chemical and electrochemical processes by free radicals was introduced and proved on a wide range of subjects; the

photocatalysis of the oxidation- reduction transformations of various substrates by free radicals and many other reactions were

discovered. The new reactions, effects, and phenomena that you discovered have provided a strong impetus to the development

of these investigations in many other scientific centers.

Your researches into the thermodynamics and nature of intermolecular interactions in systems with hydrogen bonds

have made a significant contribution to the experimental corroboration of a series of important concepts in hydrogen bond

theory. Your investigations into the complexation of free radicals and radical-ions and the state of radical-cations in condensed

media have provided the corner stone for the detailed description of the reactivity of free radicals and radical-ions with due

regard to the fine effects of the medium.

Your pioneering researches into the kinetics and mechanisms of many organic reactions that take place with the

participation of free radicals and radical-ions are widely known and have formed the basis for the development of new theories

about the elementary events involved in such processes and their practical control and for the creation of new methods for the

production of various compounds. You are the founder of a new discipline in materials science in Ukraine, i.e., the physical

chemistry of organic polymers.

Your investigations lie at the intersection of many disciplines in contemporary science. This has led to the birth of new

regions in contemporary science and bears witness to the extent of your creative interests and your broad scientific horizon,

a excellent perception of the novel and constant exploration in science.

A remarkable feature of the work of your scientific school is your bold amalgamation of penetrating fundamental

researches and the discovery of methods for their practical utilization.

You have paid great attention to the training of scientific staff - among your students there about 30 doctors and candidates of sciences.

Widely known are your scientific management activities as member of the Presidium of the National Academy of

Sciences of Ukraine, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,

Director of the L. V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and

Translated from Teoreticheskaya i I~ksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 337-338, November-December, 1995.

0040-5760/95/3106-0273512.50 �9 Plenum Publishing Corporation 273

President of the Scientific Council of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on "Chemical Kinetics and Structure." You

have devoted much effort and energy to your editorial activities as Chief Editor of "Teoreticheskaya i l~ksperimental'naya

Khimiya" and also a member of the editorial staff of a series of national and foreign journals.

Your achievements in the advancement of science were recognized by the award of the Lenin Komsomol prize for

chemistry (1970), the L. V. Pisarzhevskii prize of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1979), the Council of

Ministers of the USSR prize (1988), the State prize of Ukraine for science and technology (1993), and distinguished government

awards.

We wish you sound health, happiness, inexhaustible energy, and further creative achievements.

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