| RefNo | EC/1916/12 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XIII, 105; A04571 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | McKenzie, Alexander: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Description | Date stamp on reverse |
| Citation | Professor of Chemistry in University College, Dundee. Know both in this country and abroad as a zealous and successful worker in the domain of sterochemistry. His contributions (some 40 in number) to the Transactions of the Chemical Society, and other journals, have greatly advanced knowledge of the optically-active compounds of carbon, especially in connection with the phenomenon of racemisation. He was one of the first chemists in this country to apply the Grignard reaction in many useful directions, especially for the asymmetric synthesisof substituted glycollic acids, and for the isolation of laevorotatory benzoin. In his work on asymmetric synthesis he has solved a problem of fundamental interest which had previously engaged the attention of many chemists without success; with one exception, all the cases of realisation of asymmetric synthesis - in the sense of the term as originally suggested by Emil Fischer - which are recorded in the literature,have been effected by him (1904-1909). His work on the configuration of the dibromosuccinic acids (1912) is highly significant with regard to the mechanism of the addition of groupings to unsaturated carbon compounds. Within recent years (1908-1913) he has been engaged more particularly in investigating the 'Walden Inversion,' and his masterly researches on this important subject, involving as they do experimental work of great difficulty, exhibit much originality and resource. |
| Proposers | P F Frankland; T Purdie; J Walker; W J Pope; F S Kipping; A Smithells; W P Wynne; William Ramsay; J N Collie; J M Thomson; A W Crossley; M O Forster; William A Tilden; James J Dobbie; W H Perkin |
| AccessStatus | Open |
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Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA1245 | McKenzie; Alexander (1869 - 1951) | 1869 - 1951 |