Alan McLeod Sargeson
FAA FRS (30 October 1930 – 29 December 2008) was an Australian
inorganic chemist
Inorganic chemistry deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two discipl ...
.
Education and early life
Sargeson was born at
Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. He was educated at the
University of Sydney and received his Ph.D. supervised by
Francis Patrick Dwyer
Francis Patrick John Dwyer FAA (3 December 1910 – 22 June 1962) was Professor of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra. He was one of the most distinguished scientists Australia has produced. At the time of his death in 1962 he ...
also at Sydney in 1956.
Career and research
His first academic appointment was at the
University of Adelaide and then in 1958 he rejoined Dwyer at the
Australian National University.
Sargeson was best known as a coordination chemist with an interest in
bioinorganic chemistry. In early work with Dwyer and throughout his career, he studied stereochemistry. His research group investigated the reactions of amine ligands, culminating in the synthesis of the
clathrochelate
In coordination chemistry, clathrochelates are ligands that encapsulate metal ions. Chelating ligands bind to metals more strongly than related monodentate ligands, and macrocyclic ligands bind more strongly than typical chelating ligands. It ...
s called "sepulchrates".
Awards and honours
He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983 and the
Australian Academy of Science, and a corresponding member of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
References
1930 births
2008 deaths
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Fellows of the Royal Society
Australian chemists
Inorganic chemists
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
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