He was a specialist on the refining of rhodium, palladium, platinum and other precious metals.
After studying at the Vologda gymnasium and passing with a gold medal in 1911 he joined St Petersburg University where he became a student of Lev Aleksandrovich Chugaev and graduated in 1915.
He studied the chemistry of platinum compounds and is credited with the term "trans effect" that he coined in 1926.
He noted that in square planar complexes of platinum, specific ligand groups directed the formation of cis or trans compounds in reactions.
He postulated that electronegative ligands led to directing of complexing of a new radical at the trans position in reactions.