Upon returning to Romania, he became a professor at the University of Bucharest from 1925 to 1935.[1] He studied Friedel–Crafts-like reactions in the series of aliphatic hydrocarbons, the mechanism of the isomerization of cyclobasics,[clarification needed] the halogen migration in cycles and chains, reactions induced by carbonium ions, and others. He identified a group of naphthenic acids in Romanian oil. He searched for ways of obtaining cyclobutadiene, while explaining the chemistry of this unstable substance and isolating its dimers.
His research was substantiated in more than 200 papers. His remarkable technical and scientific activity helped develop the chemical industry in Romania.[7] A preferred quote is:
"To be able to convey science you have to be yourself a creative scientist, or at least you should strive to be".
Nenițescu was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1945 and a titular member in 1955.[8][9] In 1969, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for discovering two new syntheses for the indolenucleus, and a new method of polymerisation of ethylene".[10]
Personal life and legacy
He was married to Ecaterina Ciorănescu-Nenițescu [ro] (1909–2000).[8] A student of his, she obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1936, became a professor at Politehnica University, and was elected titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1974.[9] The family lived in a house located at 8, Strada Școalei, in central Bucharest. Built by his father in 1908 in the Romanian Revival style, the house was declared a historic monument in 2010, but was abandoned soon after and caught fire in 2016.[11][12]
He died in Bușteni at age 68[1] and was buried at Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest. In his honor, the chemistry contest "C.D. Nenițescu" is organized yearly at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. The Costin D. Nenițescu Technical College in Pitești bears his name.[13] A street in Sector 6 of Bucharest is also named after him.
^Mircea D. Banciu; Alexandru T. Balaban (1995). C. D. Nenițescu – Viața și opera [C. D. Nenițescu – his life and work] (in Romanian). București: Editura Academiei Române. ISBN973-27-0467-5.