Jeffrey Barry Harborne
FRS (1 September 1928, in Bristol – 21 July 2002) was a British chemist who specialised in
phytochemistry. He was Professor of
Botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
at the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
, 1976–93, then
Professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
. He contributed to more than 40 books and 270 research papers and was a pioneer in ecological biochemistry, particularly in the complex chemical interactions between plants, microbes and insects.
Education
Harborne was educated at
Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College () is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from ...
, Stonehouse,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
and the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
, where he graduated in chemistry in 1949. He earned a PhD in 1953 with a thesis on the naturally occurring oxygen heterocyclic compounds with Professor Wilson Baker (1900–2002).
Research
Between 1953 and 1955 he worked as a postdoc with Professor Theodore Albert Geissman at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying
phenol
Phenol (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bonded to a hydroxy group (). Mildly acidic, it ...
ic
plant pigments, including
anthocyanins. The identification of these substances, he made use of
ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy.
After his return to the UK, he joined the Potato Genetics group at the John Innes Research Institute, then located at Bayfordbury. Here he worked with K.S. Dodds on the phenolics of ''
Solanum
''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...
'' species, extending his knowledge of anthocyanins. This work grew to encompass a wide range of mostly garden plants. In addition to discovering novel anthocyanidins, he made in-depth studies of their glycosylation and began work on their acylation. During this time he forged links with
E. C. Bate-Smith and
Tony Swain at Cambridge, Swain arranging for him to edit his first book, ''The biochemistry of phenolic compounds''. His time at the John Innes ended when the Potato Genetics group was wound up, and the institution itself moved to Norwich.
Between 1965 and 1968 Harborne worked as a research assistant at 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 ...
. After this, he worked with
Vernon Heywood at the University of Reading. Harborne was associate professor and research assistant in the Department of Botany. In 1976 he became professor. Between 1987 and 1993 he was head of the Department of Botany. In 1993 he retired. He had in his tenure at the University of Reading also positions as visiting professor at the University Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1973), the University of Texas at Austin (1976), the University of California at Santa Barbara (1977) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1981).
Harborne investigated the role of flavonoids in interactions between plants and insects. He also investigated the relationship between
anthocyanins
Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical com ...
and the ecology of pollination. He also studied the role of phytoalexins in members of the bean family (
Fabaceae), the rose family (
Rosaceae) and the carrot family (
Apiaceae
Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plan ...
). He published on
chemotaxonomy
Merriam-Webster defines ''chemotaxonomy'' as the method of biological classification based on similarities and dissimilarity in the structure of certain compounds among the organisms being classified. Advocates argue that, as proteins are more cl ...
as in his research articles on the genetic control of expression of anthocyanins, flavones and aurones in the primrose family (
Primulaceae
The Primulaceae , commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the evening primrose family), are a family of herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden plants and wildflowers. Most are perennial though som ...
) in snapdragons (
Antirrhinum
''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native t ...
) and a number of other plants. He also published on
isoflavone Isoflavones are substituted derivatives of isoflavone, a type of naturally occurring isoflavonoids, many of which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. Isoflavones are produced almost exclusively by the members of the bean family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae) ...
s and
chemical ecology
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
.
In his book, Phytochemicals Methods: A Guide to Modern Techniques of Plant Analysis Prof. Harborne described a number of analytical methods in plant chemistry that he developed for the system of distribution of anthocyanins in major plant groups. In Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids he described the biochemistry of flavonoids in various plant groups. In the scientific journal Natural Product Reports he wrote a series of review articles about the discovery of anthocyanins and other flavonoids. In his book Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry he described the ecological role of natural substances. The publication of this book is seen as the starting point of the study of environmental chemistry. Developments in the chemical ecology he described in a series of review articles in Natural Product Reports. He was (co) author of about 270 research and review articles. He was also author or editor of some forty books.
From 1972 Prof. Harborne was the Executive Editor of the
journal Phytochemistry. Between 1986 and 1999 he was chief editor of this prestigious journal. He was the founder of the magazine Analysis Phytochemicals and he was editor of Methods in Plant Biochemistry.
Harborne had a number of awards during his lifetime. In 1985 he received the Linnean Society of London, the Linnean Medal for his services to botany. He also received medals from the Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE Medal) (1986) and the International Society of Chemical Ecology (1993). In 1993 he was awarded the Pergamon Phytochemistry Prize. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2010 the University of Reading's Plant Science Laboratories, where he was Professor, were named the Harborne Building in his honour.
Publications
* Biochemistry of
Phenolic Compounds, 1964
* Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids, 1967
* Phytochemical Phylogeny, 1970
* Phytochemical Ecology, 1972
* Phytochemical Methods, 1973, 3rd edn 1998
* Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry, 1977, 4th edn 1993
* Phytochemical Aspects of Plant and Animal Coevolution, 1978
* Plant Chemosystematics, 1984
* The Flavonoids: advances in research since 1986, 1994
* The Handbook of Natural Flavonoids, vol 1 and 2, 1999
* Phytochemical Dictionary, 1993, 2nd edn 1999
* Dictionary of Plant Toxins, 1996
* The Handbook of Flavonoid Pigments, 1999
* The Handbook of Natural Flavonoids, 1999
* Chemical Dictionary of Economic Plants, 2001
Career
* Biochemist,
the John Innes Institute, 1955–65
* Research Fellow,
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 ...
, 1965–68
* Reader, the University of Reading, UK, 1968–76
* Professor, Dept. of Botany, the University of Reading, UK, 1976–93
* Visiting Professor,
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
, 1976
* Visiting Professor,
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
, 1977
He was editor-in-chief of the journal Phytochemistry, 1972–98.
Honours
* Fellow 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 chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Instit ...
, 1956
* Fellow of the Biochemical Society, 1957
* Plenary Lecturer,
IUPAC
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
Natural Products Symposium, 1976
*
Gold Medal in Botany,
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
, 1985
* Fellow of the Linnean Society, 1986
* Silver Medal, Phytochemical Society of Europe, 1986
* Silver Medal, International Society of Chemical Ecology, 1993
* Fellow of the Institute of Biology, 1994
* Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, 1995
Personal life
His niece, Katharine Harborne, studied Horticultural Botany at the University of Reading from 1979 to 1981 and became a plant pathologist researching the epidemiology of Sugarcane Mosaic Virus for the South African Sugar Association at Mount Edgecombe.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harborne, Jeffrey
1928 births
2002 deaths
Fellows of the Royal Society
People educated at Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire
Alumni of the University of Bristol
Chemical ecologists
Academics of the University of Reading
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London