5.3: Physical Organic Chemistry in the United Kingdom

5.3 Physical Organic Chemistry in the United Kingdom

Saltzman has written a good summary of the development of physical organic chemistry in the United States and the United Kingdom, pointing out various parallels and contrasts. ^[38] In particular, he emphasizes that the subject developed more vigorously in the UK than in the USA between 1919 and 1939, even though in both countries there had been considerable work done in the kinetics and mechanisms of organic reactions before World War I. He suggests various reasons for this difference. As far as the UK is concerned, Saltzman mentions most of the key figures in the development of physical organic chemistry before 1939, and we may take his exposition as a guide in presenting the relevant bibliography.

One of the leading people in British chemistry during late-Victorian and Edwardian times was H. E. Armstrong (1848 1937). ^[39] It would be an exaggeration to describe Armstrong as an early physical organic chemist, but he had a very strong interest in the theoretical organic chemistry of the time. Two of his pupils at the Central Technical College in London, however, certainly exerted a considerable effect on the development of physical organic chemistry in the UK: Arthur Lapworth (1872 1941) ^{[40] , [41]} and Thomas Martin Lowry (1876 1936). ^[42] Their interest in the mechanisms of chemical change was probably stimulated by their experience of the complexities of camphor chemistry while working with Armstrong.

Lapworth is well known for establishing the mechanisms of the formation...