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Robert Robinson (chemist)

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For other people named Robert Robinson (disambiguation), see Robert Robinson (disambiguation) (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Robert Robertson (chemist).
Sir Robert Robinson
Born13 September 1886
Derbyshire, England
Died8 February 1975(1975-02-08) (aged 88)
Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England
NationalityEnglish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
Known forDevelopment of Organic synthesis
AwardsNobel Prize for Chemistry (1947)
The Franklin Medal (1947)
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
University of Liverpool
British Dyestuffs Corporation
University of Manchester
University of London
University of Oxford
Doctoral advisorWilliam Henry Perkin, Jr.
Doctoral studentsArthur John Birch
William Sage Rapson

Sir Robert Robinson OM, PRS, FRSE (September 13, 1886 – February 8, 1975) was an English organic chemist and Nobel laureate recognised in 1947 for his research on plant dyestuffs (anthocyanins) and alkaloids. In 1947, he also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm.

Biography

Early life

Born at Rufford Farm, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire,[1] Robinson went to school at the Chesterfield Grammar School, the private Fulneck School and the University of Manchester.

He was appointed as the first Professor of Pure and Applied Organic Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1912.[2] He was the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University from 1930 and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

Robinson Close in the Science Area at Oxford is named after him,[3] as is the Robert Robinson Laboratory at the University of Liverpool.

Research

His synthesis of tropinone, a precursor of cocaine, in 1917 was not only a big step in alkaloid chemistry but also showed that tandem reactions in a one-pot synthesis are capable of forming bicyclic molecules.[4] [5]

Tropinone synthesis
Tropinone synthesis

He invented the symbol for benzene having a circle in the middle whilst working at St Andrews University in 1923. He is known for inventing the use of the curly arrow to represent electron movement, and he is also known for discovering the molecular structures of morphine and penicillin.

In 1957 Robinson founded the journal Tetrahedron with fifty other editors for Pergamon Press.

References

  1. ^ "Former RSE Fellows 1783-2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  2. ^ http://www.chem.usyd.edu.au/aboutus/laureates.html
  3. ^ "Science Area". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  4. ^ R. Robinson (1917). "A synthesis of tropinone". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transaction. 111: 762–768. doi:10.1039/CT9171100762.
  5. ^ Arthur John Birch (1993). "Investigating a Scientific Legend: The Tropinone Synthesis of Sir Robert Robinson, F.R.S". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 47 (2): 277–296. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1993.0034. JSTOR 531792.

Further reading

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