Nencki's main scientific interest concentrated on
urea synthesis, the chemistry of
purines and biological
oxidation of
aromatic compounds. He was also interested in the structure of
proteins,
enzymatic processes in the
intestine and
bacterial
biochemistry. One of his achievements was for example demonstration that
urea is formed in the
organism from
amino acids rather than being preformed on a
protein molecule and that it is accompanied by binding of
carbon dioxide. He proposed that the synthesis of
fatty acids proceeds stepwise, by a gradual
condensation of two-
carbon-
atom fragments and that oxidation of
fatty acids occurs by splitting into two-carbon units. In 1877 while working at the
University of Berne he discovered
rhodanine via a reaction between ammonium rhodanide (in modern chemistry
ammonium thiocyanate) and
chloroacetic acid in water. Among Nencki's greatest achievements was his study on the chemical structure of
haemoglobin. He identified
haemopyrrole among degradation products of haemoglobin and showed its identity with one of the products obtained by
Leon Marchlewski from
chlorophyll. He was the first to rigorously analyze the cause of
smell in urine following eating
asparagus, which he attributed to
methanethiol. He made
Phenyl salicylate or salol in 1886, and introduced it as a mild intestinal antiseptic (which it is not) . The "salol principle" (or "nencki principle" or "salol nencki principle" ...) is used to design drugs . == See also ==