Polscy badacze chemii porfiryn. I. Pionierzy

Polish chemists have been engaged in the development of chemistry of porphyrins and related macrocycles. In the first part of the historical review, short biographies and achievements of the pioneers in the field are presented. In particular, the importance of studies performed by Marceli Nencki, Leon Marchlewski, and their co-workers, in the discovery of structures of pigments of life — heme of chlorophyll — is underlined. The contributions of other Polish biochemists and forensic chemists are discussed as well.