At the height of his career, he was professor of chemistry at the University of Petersburg, being the successor to Dmitri Mendeleev.

Chugaev discovered that dimethylglyoxime forms a scarlet solid upon reaction with nickel(II) ions.

This reaction was one of the first "spot tests" for a metal ion.

An adherent to the theories of Alfred Werner, Chugaev made several contributions to the chemistry of platinum.

[6] He discovered the Chugaev reaction during his work on thujene and terpene.