Draft:Mikhail Prokofiev
Soviet and russian bioorganic chemist and statesman (1910–1999)
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Mikhail Alekseevich Prokofiev (Russian: Михаил Алексеевич Прокофьев; 18 November 1910, Voskresenskoe, Smolensk Governorate[1] — 29 April 1999, Moscow) — soviet and russian bioorganic chemist, educator, public figure, and statesman. Minister of Education of the USSR from 1966 to 1984.
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Comment: Please read the suggested guide and look at other articles. A complete rewrite is needed. Please don't just make minor changes and resubmit, that is wasting the time of volunteer editors. Ldm1954 (talk) 13:45, 11 December 2025 (UTC)
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Mikhail Alekseevich Prokofiev | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Education of the USSR | |
| In office 24 December 1966 – 20 December 1984 | |
| Prime Minister | Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Sergey Georgievich Shcherbakov |
| Minister of Education of the Russian SFSR | |
| In office 4 May 1966 – 24 December 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Evgeni Ivanovich Afanasenko |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Ivanovich Danilov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 November 1910 |
| Died | April 29, 1999 (aged 88) |
| Party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (since 1941) |
| Alma mater | MSU Faculty of Chemistry |
| Occupation | bioorganic chemist, educator, statesman |
| Awards | Order of Lenin[2] Order of the Patriotic War[3] Order of the Red Banner of Labour[4] Order of the Red Star[5] Order of the Badge of Honour[6] Medal "For Labour Valour"[7] |
A member of the RKP(b) since 1941. Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1971–1991). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th–11th convocations (1966–1989) from Kalinin Oblast[8]. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1966). Full Member of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (1967). Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1991). Honorary Professor of Moscow State University (1994).
Biography
He was born into a peasant family in the village of Voskresenskoye (now Tyomkinsky District, Smolensk Oblast). His father, Alexei Ivanovich, worked at factories near the village from 1904 and died in 1924. His mother, Alexandra Vasilyevna, was a brigade leader in a kolkhoz until 1938.
In 1923 he moved to Moscow, where his uncle lived. During his school years, he showed an interest in the natural sciences, especially chemistry. He graduated from a nine-year school with a focus on chemistry in 1927. From 1928 he was a pioneer leader, and from 1929 as a press operator at a chemical plant.
He graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University (1930–1935). From 1935 to 1937 he served in the Soviet Army. In 1937–1940 he studied in the postgraduate program at the Research Institute of Chemistry at Moscow State University, after which he defended his thesis “Synthesis of α-amino-β-hydroxy acids and their dehydration” (scientific advisor: Prof. M. M. Botvinnik)[9].
From December 1940 to October 1941 he served as Deputy Director of the MSU Research Institute of Chemistry.
In October 1941 he volunteered for the front and served in the navy as head of the department of the People's Commissariat. He was demobilized in 1946.
From 1946 he was a senior researcher and deputy director of the Research Institute of Chemistry at Moscow State University. In 1951 he became deputy minister, and from 1959 to 1966 he served as First Deputy Minister of Higher and Secondary Education of the USSR.
In 1963 he defended his doctoral dissertation, “The Chemistry of nucleoside-, nucleotide-, and polyribonucleotide peptides” (based on a collection of work in the form of a scientific report). In 1965 he organized and headed the Department of Chemistry of Natural Compounds at Moscow State University and became head of the dissertation committee for the specialty “Chemistry of Natural and Physiologically Active Substances".
From 1966 to 1989 he served as a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and from 1971 to 1991 as a member of the CPSU Central Committee. In May 1966 he became Minister of Education of the RSFSR, and from December of the same year the first Union Minister of Education, a post he held until 1984.
After leaving his ministerial post, he returned to scientific and pedagogical work, took part in the development of chemical education, supported young scientists and teachers, and maintained an active scientific and public life well into his later years.
He died on 29 April 1999 in Moscow and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery[10].
Scientific works and their significance
Synthesis and properties of amino acid derivatives of nucleic acids
In the late 1940s Mikhail Alekseevich Prokofiev began research in the field of nucleotide and oligonucleotide chemistry, as well as their amino acid derivatives.
In 1950, together with Z.A. Rumyantseva, he published a paper[11] on the synthesis of pyridylamino acids — analogues of nucleamino acids in which the sugar-phosphate backbone is replaced by an amino acid. In 1957, together with Z.A. Shabarova and N.I. Sokolova, he studied[12][13] amino acid derivatives of nucleosides.
Pyrimidylamino acids and their peptides were subjected to particularly detailed research. Their reactions involving the carboxyl group, the amino group, and the pyrimidine ring were studied. Peptides containing pyrimidine amino acids as N- and C-terminal fragments were synthesized. The possibility of converting pyrimidine derivatives into acyclic amino acids — in particular, aspartic acid — was demonstrated.
A general method was also developed for converting acyclic amino acids into pyrimidine derivatives, based on the condensation of aliphatic ω-ureido- and ω-guanido-α-amino acids with β-dicarbonyl compounds. The existence of close interrelationships between pyrimidines and α-amino acids in biological systems was confirmed. These relationships are most clearly revealed when studying their metabolic pathways, as well as through the isolation of pyrimidylamino acid compounds from natural sources.
In 1970 he published the results of his research on phosphoramide-type nucleopeptides and proposed a model of enzymatic synthesis of bonds between oligodeoxyribonucleotides.
Methods of ligation and synthesis of oligonucleotides
Under Prokofiev’s guidance, a foundation was laid for the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides both in solution and on a polymer support. The chemical ligation method was developed for the synthesis of not only natural but also genetically modified oligonucleotides.
In 1977, he published[14] the results of a study on the reverse transcription of phage RNA using synthetic heteropolymer primers.
The next stage was the transition from monomeric structures to oligomeric ones. The first step in these studies was the synthesis of oligomers; the research proceeded in two directions: improving solution-phase synthesis and developing a solid-phase method for producing oligomers. In collaboration with a research group from Novosibirsk, an automated oligonucleotide synthesizer was constructed.
The properties of the solid phase were optimized[15]. The most promising material proved to be a preparation obtained by modifying polystyrene, which had been grafted by a radical method onto the surface of a polytetrafluoroethylene matrix. Anchor groups linking the polymer to the nucleic fragment were optimized. Various technological approaches to elongating the oligonucleotide chain were studied, protective groups were selected, and principles were established for cleaving synthesized substances from the solid phase, as well as for their separation and purification.
The principles of the solid-phase method for oligonucleotide synthesis were extended to the synthesis of modified compounds. Many important oligonucleotides have been synthesized by this method, including a dodecanucleotide homologous to positions 5–16 of tRNAVal, an octanucleotide complementary to a region of the intercistronic area of R17 bacteriophage RNA, a hexadeoxynucleotide complementary to a promoter region of the RNA polymerase of the same bacteriophage and others[16]
A template-based method for polynucleotide synthesis was developed[17]. It was found that spatially proximate phosphoramidate and oxy groups of modified nucleotides are capable of forming an internucleotide bond without the participation of enzymes.
Nucleopeptides were discovered and isolated from natural sources: RNA from pancreas, E. coli ribosomes, rabbit reticulocytes, extracts of Bac. brevis and others. In E. coli ribosomes peptides are linked to 23S RNA via a phosphoramidate bond through N-terminal residues of Ala, Glu, and Asp. The biological role of secondary RNA structures was demonstrated.
His work laid the foundation for the study of the structure and functions of protein–nucleic acid complexes. In collaboration with co-authors, he established the mechanism of DNA ligase action and established patterns in the biosynthesis of viral and plasmid DNA, as well as certain viral RNAs.
Organization of science and education
In addition to his scientific work, Prokofiev was renowned for his achievements in the organization of education. Under his supervision, about 100 candidate and more than 10 doctoral dissertations were defended. Many of his students became leading specialists in the field of biochemistry and bioorganic chemistry.
He initiated reforms in the education system with the aim of raising the scientific level of curricula and introduced a differentiated approach to teaching, particularly in chemistry and biology. He actively participated in the creation of educational publications for schoolchildren and teachers, such as the “Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Young Chemist”[18] and the “Schoolchild’s Encyclopedia”[19]
Legacy
- In 2000, a commemorative plaque honoring M.A. Prokofiev and Z.A. Shabarova was installed at the A.N. Belozersky Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology.
- In 2017 scientific and practical conferences and an international symposium were held in Moscow to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Prokofiev’s birth, where his scientific and pedagogical legacy was discussed.
- Also in 2017 articles and a book dedicated to Prokofiev’s biography and contributions to education were published, and films about educational figures, including him, were shown at a scientific film festival.
- In 2023 the Academy of the Ministry of Education of Russia opened a classroom named after M.A. Prokofiev, the first Minister of Education of the USSR.
Publications
- Prokofiev M.A., Rumyantseva Z.A. Synthesis of pyridyl amino acids // Doklady Akademii Nauk. 1950. Vol. 75, pp. 399–403.
- Shabarova Z.A., Sokolova N.I., Prokofiev M.A. Aminoacyl derivatives of nucleosides // Zhurnal obshchey khimii. 1957. Vol. 27, pp. 2891–2897.
- Shabarova Z.A., Prokofiev M.A. Studies on phosphoramidate-type nucleopeptides // Sovremennye problemy organicheskoi khimii. Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 1970. pp. 345–390.
- Shabarova Z.A., Prokofiev M.A. A model of enzymatic synthesis of the internucleotide bond between oligodeoxynucleotides // FEBS Letters, 1970, Vol. 11, pp. 237–240.
- Frolova L.Yu., Metelev V.G., Ratmanova K.I., Smirnov V.D., Shabarova Z.A., Prokofiev M.A., Berzin V.M., Jansone I.V., Gren E.J., Kisselev L.L. Reverse transcription of phage RNA and its fragment directed by synthetic heteropolymeric primers // Nucleic Acid Research, 1977, Vol. 4, pp. 2145–2159.
- Dolinnaya N.G., Gromova E.S., Ilina E.V., Sergeeva N.F., Shabarova Z.A., Prokofiev M.A. Study of complementary complexes formed by oligodeoxyribonucleotides of different lengths // Bioorganicheskaya khimiya. 1975. Vol. 9, pp. 1296–1302.
- Gromova E.S., Dolinnaya N.G., Smirnov V.V., Shabarova Z.A., Prokofiev M.A. Conformation of oligodeoxyadenylic acid amides and properties of their complexes with polyuridylic acid // Bioorganicheskaya khimiya. 1975. Vol. 12, pp. 1716–1727.
- Prokofiev M.A. Problems of democratization of higher education in the Soviet Union. Moscow, 1958, 26 pp.
- Prokofiev M.A. Report of the Minister of Education of the RSFSR on the tasks of the institutions of public education. Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1966, 31 pp.
- Prokofiev M.A. The Soviet school at the present stage. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1971, 61 pp.
- Prokofiev M.A., Kozhevnikov E.M., Zhuravleva M.I. Public Education in the USSR. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1985, 448 pp.
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