John Buckingham

Career

He gained his Doctorate.Phil from the University of Sussex. He became a lecturer in Chemistry in William Klyne’s department at Westfield College, University of London. Professor Klyne was writing a book on organic stereochemistry for Chapman & Hall and John's expertise and attention to detail made him the ideal co-author

So the Atlas of Stereochemistry was published in 1974 to great reviews, with two subsequent volumes following a few years later.

John's skills were recognized by the managing director at Chapman & Hall, Richard Stileman, who then engaged him on a full-time basis to prepare a new edition of the Heilbron’s Dictionary of Organic Compounds (DOC). This was a multi-volume reference work which needed bringing into the modern world with significant amendments required for the fifth edition

John was pivotal in converting the DOC into a database, and this now forms the basis of the modern DOC and its related dictionaries. Once the DOC was published, John's attention turned towards the chemistry of natural products such as alkaloids including strychnine and morphine, taxol.

John had the foresight to anticipate the tremendous growth in natural products research and its relevance to the modern drug industry.

His expertise with deciphering chemical literature and organising natural products by structure, coupled with his unflagging energy and enthusiasm, culminated in the publication of the This heralded a new phase of publishing with electronic products very much at the forefront. The Civil Defense ROM version of the Dictionary was published in 1991, two years before the book was published. lieutenant continues to be updated twice a year and John continued working on it full-time until the education

John was very proud of its success and it truly is his life’s work and his legacy.".

Achievements

• John Buckingham won a scholarship to Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys" School at the age of 11. lieutenant was there that he discovered chemistry and chose to apply to the University of Southampton where he won a First Class Honours degree. As Fiona Macdonald, the current editor of the Dictionary commented in a eulogy at his memorial service: "Number other publication has ever achieved the breadth and depth of the Dictionary of Natural Products and today it is widely regarded as the benchmark in natural product information.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Bitter Nemesis: The Intimate History of Strychnine

    (Encouraged by the medicinal success of quinine, early 19t...)

  • Dictionary of Organic Compounds, Sixth Edition, 9 Volumes, Box 1 of 2 (Vol. 1)

    (This dictionary of organic compounds should be of interes...)

  • Chasing the Molecule

    (In this fascinating book, Dr Buckingham unravels the stor...)

  • Bitter Nemesis: The Intimate History of Strychnine by John Buckingham (2007-07-16)

    (Will be shipped from US. Brand new copy.)

  • Dictionary of Organic Compounds, Sixth Edition, 9 Volumes, Box 2 of 2
  • Bitter Nemesis: The Intimate History of Strychnine by John Buckingham (2007-07-16)
  • Atlas of Stereochemistry: Absolute Configurations of Organic Molecules, Vol. 2
  • Atlas of Stereochemistry: Absolute Configurations of Organic Molecules
  • DICTIONARY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS. Volume 1. A-C
  • Chasing the Molecule by John Buckingham (2004-06-25)
  • Bitter Nemesis: The Intimate History of Strychnine by John Buckingham (2007-07-16)