His key paper on the subject, which came to be known as Conformational Analysis, was published in 1950 and led directly to the 1969 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, which he shared with the Norwegian physical chemist Odd Hassel.On his return to the UK he moved to Birkbeck College, London, first as Reader and then, at the early age of 35, as Professor. This was soon to prove a blessing in disguise when, in 1948, during the tenure of an ICI Research Fellowship, he published calculations on the preferred three-dimensional shape of an organic molecule.His critical moment of insight came in the following year when he was a visiting lecturer at Harvard and attended a seminar in Professor Louis Fieser’s group where discussions centred around unusual reactions of steroids. He disagreed with the conventional explanations, and recognised, because of his calculations, that there was an “obvious” relationship between the preferred shape of a molecule and its reactivity. From 1942 to 1944, he was employed in secret wartime research and liked to hint that he developed a new range of invisible inks for use on human skin.He was married in 1944 to Jeanne Wilkins and, after one year in the chemical industry with Albright and Wilson in Birmingham, he returned to Imperial College as assistant lecturer. To his dismay, he was required to teach, not as an organic chemist but in the more mathematical realms of physical chemistry. He was awarded the top first class honours BSc in 1940 and completed his PhD studies some two years later with Professor Sir Ian Heilbron.
You should only work on reactions that are potentially important and that you do not know how to do.”Barton was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent, and, after deciding that he did not want to follow his father into the family carpentry business, he enrolled to read Chemistry at Imperial College, London, because “the fees were higher and thereforeit had to be better”. The areas which he left behind were always, of course, well ploughed by others.
He considered originality to be the most important quality. His advice to younger scientists was simply stated: “If you know, in the academic world, how to do a reaction you should not do it. THE NOBEL Laureate Sir Derek Barton’s published scientific works in organic chemistry spanned 58 years and ranged over vast areas of the subject He was one of the greatest chemists of this century. Unlike most scientists who prefer to remain as specialists, Barton had a mastery of both physical and organic chemistry and a breadth of interests which enabled him to turn to new fields, moving between topics, using the information gained from one study and then applying it to another, and then returning with more new ideas to the first.
The payment comes on top of Mr McNulty’s total pay package of pounds 425,176 for the year to October.
Larry Kaplan, another director of Shandwick, received almost pounds 500,000 on leaving the group and can cash in options worth in excess of pounds 120,000.He received pounds 195,895 last year including a bonus of pounds 22,320 relating to the performance of the group’s North American division.. DERMOT McNulty, former chief executive of Shandwick International, is set to receive a package of more than pounds 2m from the PR firm despite presiding over a slump in the value of the group and being forced out of his job. He received a pay-off of almost pounds 1.2m, according to the group’s annual report published yesterday, and is also entitled to cash in share options which are currently worth more than pounds 400,000. Bluebird said it had received the offers since the GPG bid was announced on 19 January, but offered no further details. A
further announcement will be made as soon as possible, it said.. Bluebird said it continued to urge shareholders to reject a bid from GPG, adding that GPG told it last week that it had received acceptances of its bid representing only 0.05 per cent of Bluebird.