Charles Wayne Rees

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRS FRSC (15 October 1927 – 21 September 2006) was a British

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

.Video podcast of Rees talking about contemporary heterocyclic chemistry

Early life and education

Rees was born in Egypt, and educated in England at

Farnham Grammar School Farnham Grammar School is now called Farnham College which is located in Farnham, Surrey, southern England. History The grammar school was created at some time before 1585 (the date of a donation being made by a Richard Searle "to the maintenan ...

. After three years as a laboratory technician at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

he went to University College at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

(later the University of Southampton) where he graduated in 1950. He took his PhD there with Professor A. Albert of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

– at

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston Hall, the family ...

, London.

Career

He was then appointed Assistant Lecturer at

Birkbeck College, London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

in 1955 (moving in at the bottom as Professor

Derek Barton Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton (8 September 1918 – 16 March 1998) was an English organic chemist and Nobel Prize laureate for 1969. Education and early life Barton was born in Gravesend, Kent, to William Thomas and Maude Henrietta Barton ( ...

moved out at the top to take up the Regius Chair in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

). After two years at Birkbeck, Rees moved to

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

where he spent eight years as Lecturer/Reader. He collaborated for several years with Professor

Donald Holroyde Hey Donald Holroyde Hey Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 September 1904 – 21 January 1987) was a Wales, Welsh organic chemist. He was notable for his Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper proposing that the decomposition of benzoyl peroxid ...

on various aspects of

heterocyclic chemistry A heterocyclic compound or ring structure is a cyclic compound that has atoms of at least two different elements as members of its ring(s). Heterocyclic chemistry is the branch of organic chemistry dealing with the synthesis, properties, and ...

. He was appointed to his first Chair at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

in 1965, and four years later moved to the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

as Professor of Organic Chemistry, and in 1977 he succeeded Professor George Wallace Kenner there as Heath Harrison Professor of Organic Chemistry. In 1978, he was appointed

Hofmann Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be spelle ...

Professor of Organic Chemistry at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and remained there until his retirement in 1993. Rees' research interests ranged widely over mechanistic and synthetic organic chemistry. Much of his work was concerned with

heterocyclic A heterocyclic compound or ring structure is a cyclic compound that has atoms of at least two different elements as members of its ring(s). Heterocyclic chemistry is the branch of organic chemistry dealing with the synthesis, properties, and ...

chemistry, particularly the synthesis and chemistry of new

rings, with an emphasis on

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

and

antiaromatic Antiaromaticity is a chemical property of a cyclic molecule with a π electron system that has higher energy, i.e., it is less stable due to the presence of 4n delocalised (π or lone pair) electrons in it, as opposed to aromaticity. Unlike aroma ...

rings, and the role of

reactive intermediate In chemistry, a reactive intermediate or an intermediate is a short-lived, high-energy, highly reactive molecule. When generated in a chemical reaction, it will quickly convert into a more stable molecule. Only in exceptional cases can these comp ...

s in heterocyclic chemistry. Recently, he had been working on heterocyclic systems with unusually high proportions of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

and

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

heteroatoms. He published about 480 papers in the scientific literature. Rees was the President of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

from July 1992 for two years. He has served on its Council and many Boards and Committees at various times; he was Chair of the Publication and Information Board for four years. He was President of the Perkin Division of the RSC, and President of the Chemistry Association for the Advancement of Science. Amongst the many and diverse contributions to chemistry he made, his two papers describing the brilliantly conceived generation of benzyne and ,8dehydronaphthalene by the

lead(IV) acetate Lead(IV) acetate or lead tetraacetate is an organometallic compound with chemical formula . It is a colorless solid that is soluble in nonpolar, organic solvents, indicating that it is not a salt. It is degraded by moisture and is typically store ...

oxidation of N-amino heterocycles are considered classic papers from this era. He died on 21 September 2006 of undisclosed causes.

Awards and honours

He was the

's Tilden Lecturer in 1974, and the Pedler Lecturer in 1984, and received the (first) RSC Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry in 1980 and the International award in Heterocyclic Chemistry in 1995. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1974. He was awarded an Honorary D.Sc. by the University of Leicester in 1994 and a CBE in the

New Years Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

list in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Charles 1927 births 2006 deaths Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of King's College London Academics of Imperial College London Academics of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Southampton Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English chemists Organic chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Academics of the University of Liverpool Presidents of the Royal Society of Chemistry