Robert Robinson (chemist)

Sir Robert Robinson OM PRS FRSE[4] (13 September 1886 – 8 February 1975) was a British organic chemist[1] and Nobel laureate recognised in 1947 for his research on plant dyestuffs (anthocyanins) and alkaloids. In 1947, he also received the Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm.

Not to be confused with Robert Robertson (chemist).

Sir Robert Robinson OM PRS FRSE
President of the Royal Society
In office 1945–1950
Preceded by	Sir Henry Harrett Dale
Succeeded by	Edgar Adrian
Personal details
Born	(1886-09-13)13 September 1886 Derbyshire, England
Died	8 February 1975(1975-02-08) (aged 88) Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Nationality	English
Alma mater	University of Manchester
Known for	Development of Organic synthesis[1]
Spouse(s)	Gertrude Maud Robinson
Awards	Davy Medal (1930) Royal Medal (1932) Copley Medal (1942) Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1947) Franklin Medal (1947) Albert Medal (1947) Faraday Lectureship Prize (1947)
Scientific career
Fields	Organic chemistry[1]
Institutions	University of Sydney University of Liverpool British Dyestuffs Corporation University of Manchester University College London University of Oxford
Doctoral advisor	William Henry Perkin, Jr.
Doctoral students	Sir Edward Abraham[2] Arthur John Birch William Sage Rapson John Cornforth Rita Harradence K. Venkataraman[3]

Biography

Early life

He was born at Rufford House Farm, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire[5] the son of James Bradbury Robinson, a maker of surgical dressings, and his wife, Jane Davenport.[6]

Robinson went to school at the Chesterfield Grammar School and the private Fulneck School. He then studied Chemistry at the University of Manchester, graduating BSc in 1905. In 1907 he was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851[7] to continue his research at 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.[8] He was briefly at St Andrews University (1920–22) and then was offered the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Manchester University. In 1928 he moved from there to be a professor at University College London where he stayed only two years. 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,[9] as is the Robert Robinson Laboratory at the University of Liverpool, the Sir Robert Robinson Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester[10] and the Robinson and Cornforth Laboratories at the University of Sydney.

Robinson was a strong amateur chess player. He represented Oxford University in a friendly match with a team from Bletchley Park in December 1944;[11] in which he lost his game to pioneering computer scientist I. J. Good.[12] He was president of the British Chess Federation from 1950–53,[13] and with Raymond Edwards he co-authored the book The Art and Science of Chess (Batsford, 1972).[14]

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.[15] [16]

Tropinone synthesis

He invented the symbol for benzene having a circle in the middle whilst working at St Andrews University in 1923.[17] He is known for inventing the use of the curly arrow to represent electron movement,[18] and he is also known for discovering the molecular structures of morphine and penicillin.[19][20] Robinson annulation has had application in the total synthesis of steroids.

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

Publications

• The Structural Relationship of Natural Products (1955)

Family

He married twice. In 1912 he married Gertrude Maud Walsh. Following her death in 1954, in 1957 he married a widow, Mrs Stern Sylvia Hillstrom (née Hershey).[21]

References

1. Saltzman, M. D. (1987). "The development of Sir Robert Robinson's contributions to theoretical organic chemistry". Natural Product Reports. 4: 53. doi:10.1039/NP9870400053.
2. "Some substituted peptides and Experiments with lysozyme". University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
3. Anand, Nitya (22 May 2018). "Krishnaswami Venkataraman (1901–1981)" (PDF). Indian National Science Academy. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
4. Todd, L.; Cornforth, J. W. (1976). "Robert Robinson. 13 September 1886 – 8 February 1975". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 22: 414–527. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0018. JSTOR 769748.
5. "Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
6. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
7. 1851 Royal Commission Archives
8. http://www.chem.usyd.edu.au/aboutus/laureates.html
9. "Science Area". www.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
10. In Burlington Street and opened in 1950: Charlton, H. B. (1951) Portrait of a University. Manchester University Press; plan facing p. 172; since demolished.
11. Nicholas Metropolis (ed.), History of Computing in the Twentieth Century; chapter Pioneering Work on Computers at Bletchley (I. J. Good), p38
12. British Chess magazine, February 1945, p36
13. Nobel Prize bio
14. Chemical and Engineering news
15. Robinson, R. (1917). "LXIII. A Synthesis of Tropinone". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 111: 762–768. doi:10.1039/CT9171100762.
16. Birch, A. J. (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.
17. Armit, James Wilson; Robinson, Robert (1925). "Polynuclear heterocyclic aromatic types. Part II. Some anhydronium bases". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 127: 1604–1618. doi:10.1039/ct9252701604.
18. Kermack, William Ogilvy; Robinson, Robert (1922). "An explanation of the property of induced polarity of atoms and an interpretation of the theory of partial valencies on an electronic basis". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 121: 427–440. doi:10.1039/CT9222100427.
19. Gulland, J.M.; Robinson, R. (1925). "Constitution of codeine and thebaine". Memoirs and Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. 69: 79–86.
20. Abraham, E. P. (1987). "Sir Robert Robinson and the early history of penicillin". Natural Product Reports. 4 (1): 41–46. doi:10.1039/np9870400041. PMID 3302773.
21. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.

External links

• Sir Robert Robinson on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1947 Some Polycyclic Natural Products
• ABC Online Forum