Ted Corbett (chemist)
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Ted Corbett
| birth_name = Robert Edward Corbett
| image =
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|06|13|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|02|03|1923|06|13|df=y}}
| death_place = Tauranga, New Zealand
| fields = Organic and natural product chemistry
| workplaces = University of Otago
| alma_mater = University of Otago (MSc)
University of Cambridge (PhD)
| thesis_title = The structure of certain antibiotics
| thesis_url = http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01016703963
| thesis_year = 1950
| doctoral_advisor = Alexander Todd
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| spouse = {{marriage|Enid Mary Carter|1949|2012|end=d.}}
| children = 2
}}
Robert Edward Corbett (13 June 1923 – 3 February 2018) was a New Zealand organic chemist. He is noted for his contribution to natural product chemistry through the isolation and structural elucidation of compounds from New Zealand native plants.
Early life and education
Born on 13 June 1923,{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/Search?Path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths|title=Death search: registration number 2018/3699 |date= |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |accessdate=13 February 2018}} Corbett was the son of Walter Corbett and Margaret Whitehead Corbett (née Robertson). He studied at the University of Otago, graduating Master of Science with first-class honours in chemistry in 1945.{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university6.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Co–Cu |date= |website=Shadows of Time |publisher= |accessdate=13 February 2018}} Corbett later undertook doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge under Alexander Todd on the structures of some of the metabolites—puberulic acid, puberulonic acid, and stipitatic acid—of Penicillium species.{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org.nz/members/memberpage/63 |title=Professor Edward Corbett |date= |publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand |accessdate=13 February 2018}} He showed that they contain the tropolone skeleton, and his PhD thesis, titled The structure of certain antibiotics was completed in 1950.{{cite web |url=http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01016703963 |title=Catalogue search |date= |website=British Library |accessdate=13 February 2018}}
In 1949, Corbett married Enid Mary Carter in Cambridge, England,{{cite web |url=https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=ONSmarriage1984&h=27344962 |title=England & Wales, civil registration marriage index, 1916–2005 |year=2010 |website= |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |accessdate=13 February 2018 |url-access=subscription }} and they went on to have two children.{{cite news | url=http://notices.nzherald.co.nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/obituary.aspx?n=robert-edward-corbett-ted&pid=188080239 | title=Professor Robert Edward (Ted) Corbett death notice | date=6 February 2018 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=13 February 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/30042-corbett-enid-mary.html |title=Corbett, Enid Mary |date=16 August 2012 |work=SunLive |accessdate=13 February 2018}}
Academic and research career
In 1945, Corbett was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry at Otago.{{cite book |chapter=Emeritus professors |title=University of Otago Calendar |url=http://www.otago.ac.nz/study/otago628508.pdf |accessdate=13 February 2018 |year=2017 |publisher=University of Otago |location=Dunedin |page=121}} After returning from Cambridge in 1950, Corbett rose to become a professor in 1966, and the Mellor Professor of Chemistry in 1972.{{cite web |url=http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/9051 |title=Robert E. Corbett |date= |website=Otago University Research Heritage |publisher=University of Otago |accessdate=13 February 2018}} When he retired in 1983, he was accorded the title of professor emeritus.
Corbett's research at Otago was primarily concerned with the study and structural elucidation of essential oils isolated from New Zealand native plants by steam distillation. Under his supervision in 1970, doctoral student Denis Lauren first isolated the diterpene compound from the rimu tree (Dacrydium cupressinum) that came to be known as laurenene.{{cite web |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/14461/rimu-leaves |title=Rimu leaves |first=Nigel |last=Perry |date=24 September 2007 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |accessdate=13 February 2018}}{{cite web |url=http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagobulletin/news/otago354005.html |title=History of chemistry adorns site hoardings |date=1 December 2015 |publisher=University of Otago |accessdate=13 February 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/chemical-bling-shows-way |title= Chemical bling shows the way |work=Otago Daily Times |date=15 February 2018 |first=John |last=Gibb |accessdate=15 February 2018}} Corbett also investigated extractives from barks, leaves, heartwoods and lichens, and determined the structures of many new, and derivatives of known, di-, tri- and sesquiterpenoids. He also studied the synthesis and rearrangement of some of the compounds that his team isolated.
Later life and death
In retirement, the Corbetts lived in Tauranga. Enid Corbett died there in 2012, and Ted Corbett died on 3 February 2018, also in Tauranga.
Honours and awards
In 1972, Corbett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org.nz/who-we-are/our-people/our-fellows/all-fellows/a-c/ |title=List of all Fellows with surnames A–C |date= |website= |publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand |accessdate=13 February 2018}} He was also a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
Selected publications
- {{cite journal |last=Corbett |first=R.E. |last2=Hassall |first2=C.H. |last3=Johnson |first3=A.W. |last4=Todd |first4=A.R. |authorlink2=Cedric Hassall |authorlink4=Alexander R. Todd |date=1950 |title=Puberulic and puberulonic acids. Part I. The molecular formula of puberulonic acid and consideration of possible benzenoid structures for the acids |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1039/JR9500000001}}
- {{cite journal |last=Corbett |first=R.E. |last2=Wyllie |first2=S.G. |date=1966 |title=The structure of rimuene |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society C: Organic |pages=1737–1742| doi = 10.1039/J39660001737}}
- {{cite journal |last=Corbett |first=R. Edward |last2=Lauren |first2=Denis R. |last3=Weavers |first3=Rex T. |date=1979 |title=The structure of laurenene, a new diterpene from the essential oil of Dacrydium cupressinum. Part 1 |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1 |pages=1774–1790| doi = 10.1039/P19790001774}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://s3.amazonaws.com/ourheritagemedia%2Foriginal%2F6f73c86a4f63cbcfb04a53a331a52116.jpg Photograph of Ted Corbett]
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Category:Scientists from Dunedin
Category:University of Otago alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:New Zealand organic chemists
Category:Academic staff of the University of Otago