The institute was founded on February 23, 1934, in
Moscow on the basis of the
High Pressure Laboratory and the
Organic Synthesis Laboratory. Among the founders were academicians
A. E. Favorsky,
N. D. Zelinsky,
V. N. Ipatiev,
A. E. Chichibabin, and later
N. Ya. Demyanov, M. A. Ilyinsky and others. In 1953, the institute was named after Academician
N. D. Zelinsky, who headed one of the departments from 1936 to 1953. The world fame of the institute is associated with the names of many prominent scientists who worked there. Among them are academicians
A. E. Favorsky, N. D. Zelinsky,
A. A. Balandin,
B. A. Kazansky,
A. N. Nesmeyanov,
I. N. Nazarov,
I. L. Knunyants,
A. E. Porai-Koshits,
V. V. Korshak,
L. F. Vereshchagin,
M. M. Shemyakin,
M. I. Kabachnik,
H. M. Minachev. During the
Great Patriotic War,
carbinol glue (Nazarov glue) was developed for repairing military equipment in the field. Synthesis methods were developed and batches of drugs were produced, including the drug vinylin (Shostakovsky balm).
Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Institute of High Pressure Physics in 1954, and Institute of natural compounds chemistry (INCC) (now Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry) in 1959 are separated from N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry. At the same time, the traditional areas of research at the ZIOC expanded and developed. Several other research centers were created with the support of scientists from the ZIOC. Among them are the A. E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute of Chemistry, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, V. I. Nikitin Institute of chemistry and the
Institute of Organic Chemistry of Turkmenistan. The institute is located at Leninsky Prospekt, 47. The building was built in 1954 according to the design of the architect
Alexey Shchusev. == Directors ==