Prof. Alexander McKenzie, F.R.S.

Abstract

AT the end of the current session, Prof. Alexander McKenzie will retire from the chair of chemistry in University College, Dundee, which he has occupied with distinction for the past twenty-four years. After graduating in the University of St. Andrews, McKenzie began his chemical research work with Purdie at St. Andrews, and later took his degree of Ph.D. under Marckwald at Berlin. Before succeeding the late Prof. Hugh Marshall in his original university, in 1914, he held appointments as lecturer in chemistry in the University of Birmingham (1902–5) and head of the Chemistry Department at Birkbeck College, London (1905–13). In the University of St. Andrews, McKenzie has achieved a great reputation as a stimulating teacher and director of research, besides rendering valuable services over a long period as a member of Court and Senatus. McKenzie's researches in stereochemistry have earned him a well-merited international recognition as a leading authority in a branch of chemistry which has expanded so remarkably since he carried out his early researches in this field with Marckwald. He has maintained his original interest in the fundamental problems of asymmetric synthesis, and his name will always be associated with elegant work on these problems, as well as on the Walden inversion, and on the migration of organic radicals. His isolation (with Wren in 1908) of optically active benzoin may be cited as a particularly delicate stereochemical achievement, typical of his work in general. McKenzie is also known as a master in the application of the Grignard reagent and a pioneer in the vast field which was opened up by the addition of this invaluable new weapon to the armoury of organic chemistry. He will carry with him on the occasion of his retirement the cordial good wishes of his numerous circle of friends, both in Great Britain and abroad.