| RefNo | EC/1983/31 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXI, 119 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Sargeson, Alan McLeod: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1979 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Professor Sargeson is distinguished for his many contributions to inorganic and bio-inorganic chemistry. He was among the first to establish the dissociative character of substitution of octahedral cobalt (III) complexes in aqueous solution, identifying many intermediates of reduced co-ordination number. It is not un-reasonable to suggest that this work was as significant for co-ordination chemistry as the experiments which led to the implication of carbonium ions in organic chemistry. He has also pioneered research on the role of metal ions in the hydrolysis and aminolyses of amino acid derivatives, amides, nitriles, phosphate esters, etc. These studies established prodigious accelerations in reaction rates compared with those of the unco-ordinated species. The results suggest likely mechanisms for amino acid ester and peptide hydrolysis on carboxypeptidase A, and phosphate ester hydrolysis in alkaline phosphatase. Sargeson has also made important contributions to our knowledge of stereochemistry and conformational analysis. In a series of elegant papers he demonstrated that proton exchange at chiral metal-co-ordinated amine centres was much faster than the inversion of the deprotonated species. More recently the acceleratory effects of co-ordinated nucleophiles and the ability of the metal ion to organise the substrates have been used to carry out elegant organic syntheses on the metal centers. Some of these reactions are extraordinarily stereospecific and their elegance is typified by the recent synthesis of chiral organic cages about the metal ions using simple complexes as templates. Sargeson's international reputation is high. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a foreign member of The Royal Danish Academy. A list of approximately 150 publications is attached. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4783 | Sargeson; Alan McLeod (1930 - 2008) | 1930 - 2008 |