Max O'Connor Lecture
Max O'Connor Biography
The following biography written by B. West, is taken from Chemistry in Australia.
With the death of Max O'Connor in 'March 1985. Australian chemistry lost one of its finest younger researchers and teachers.
He was born at Hawthorn, South Australia, and while attending his primary school at Westbourne Park began a lifelong friendship and professional association with two other chemists, Bob Catrall, now Reader at La Trobe University, and Glen Deacon, Reader at Monash. This association continued through Unley High School and the University of Adelaide, diverged during each of their separate experiences in the postdoctoral arena, and was reformed when all three took posts in Victorian Universities. Max was greatly influenced towards a career in chemistry during his years at Unley High School by a teacher, Sid Eberhard, as were his two friends and the later achievements of all three bear witness to the impact that can be had by an outstanding teacher on his pupils.
Max O'Connor completed his BSc degree while a cadet with the South Australian Department of Mines and during the University vacations worked as a cadet chemist in the Department of Mines Chemical Laboratories at Frewville, which later became the Australian Mineral Development Laboratories (AMDEL). After finishing his Honours degree in 1957, Max commenced work as a research chemist with AMDEL and was involved with research and development of the extraction of elements from minerals of economic importance. He participated in work on the extraction of uranium from its ores, cadmium from flue dusts, and heat treatment of alunite. This latter work involved him in the design and development of one of the first differential thermal analysis instruments used in Australia.
He also had a taste of chemical engineering during this period at AMDEL (1958-61) and spent some time operating a pilot plant for the recovery of uranium and scandium at AMDEL's Thebarton laboratories. He had become aware during this time, as he said in later years, of the value of advanced research training and decided to go back to the University of Adelaide to commence work for a PhD in 1962. He started work in collaboration with Bruce West on the study of the reactions of primary amines with metal salicylaldehyde and acetylacetone compounds and later agreed to transfer to the then new Department of Chemistry at Monash University when Bruce West took the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the beginning of 1964. Max became a Senior Teaching Fellow at Monash and played an important part in the development of laboratory classes and the tutorial system, which was put into operation in those early years at Monash. He submitted his PhD thesis in February 1966, his PhD subsequently being the sixth such degree in Chemistry bestowed by the University and the second in the area of Inorganic Chemistry. The first such Inorganic PhD was taken by his friend, Ang How Ghee (now Professor of Chemistry, National University of Singapore), who had also accompanied the group from Adelaide.
He then accepted a postdoctoral appointment to work with Professor R.H. Holm at the University of Wisconsin, soon showed his skills not only in Chemistry but in general administration and became a leading figure in helping operate Holm's research group. In this role he again "moved house" when Holm went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology several years later. During these years with Holm, Max developed an interest in the optical activities of coordination compounds, which was to remain with him as an important aspect of his subsequent work in Australia, together with an appreciation of the importance of nuclear magnetic resonance in its application to unraveling the properties of coordination compounds.
Among the papers that appeared from his collaboration with Holm, the review in Progress in Inorganic Chemistry in 1971 on the stereochemistry of bischelate compounds of the elements remains a classic review of its kind. He returned to a post as research fellow in the second new Victorian University of La Trobe in 1969 and worked with Professor Bob Magee on a variety of topics associated with the chemistry of thiocarbamates and related compounds. He became a Lecturer in 1970 and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer (1972) and to Reader in 1982. As Max began directing his own research group, he commenced collaborations with many other chemists in the Australian scene, a characteristic that was to continue until the end of his life. Amongst those who have shared in various projects with Max may be included Professor Alan Bond (Deakin), Mike Snow and the then Professor Don Stranks (University of Adelaide), G. Lawrence and P. Tregloan (Melbourne), Keith Murray and Bryan Gatehouse (Monash). A collaboration within the department at La Trobe between Max, Tony Wedd and Bob Brownlee was commenced in 1979 with the objective of studying the chemistry of molybdenum in biological systems. This involved inter alia the initiation of measurements of molybdenum-95 NMR spectra of a wide range of compounds to develop the use of such measurements as a tool in investigating biological systems. A detailed chemical shift scale for a wide range of molybdenum-containing compounds with a variety of ligand donor atoms and with molybdenum in a range of oxidation states was established and the method used for structural characterization of many classes of molybdenum compounds. At least 15 significant papers have already been published describing this work. The interaction between copper, molybdenum and sulfur in the biochemistry of sheep metabolism has been an important aspect of the overall study by Max and his collaborators and this research was supported by an extensive grant from the Australian Wool Corporation. The molybdenum containing enzyme, xanthine oxidase, has been isolated in high yield and activity by a method developed by the group, which has enabled large quantities of the pure enzyme to become available for a wide range of studies including those on Mo95-NMR. The molybdenum work encouraged an extension to a wider range of nuclei and Max joined with his colleagues in a successful search for funds to subsidise the purchase of a multinuclei spectrometer to support this work. The general work in this area will no doubt be continued by Tony Wedd and others at La Trobe with the important contributions by Max having laid a solid foundation for the future. He was supervisor for seven PhD students and 4 MSc students during his career and was author of over 60 major research papers.
Max O'Connor made an impact in other areas besides research and teaching in Chemistry. He was a long-time member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, being elected to Fellowship in 1974; he was a member of the Emoluments Committee (1980ยท82), subeditor for Chemisrry in Australia from 1975-1980, and successively committee member, Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer of the Division of Coordination Metal Organic Chemistry of the Institute. He was elected Divisional Chairman for two consecutive terms in the period 1982-1985. His last duty as Chairman of the meeting of COMO 12 in Hobart in 1984, was to preside over the meeting at which the title of the Division was changed to that of Division of Inorganic Chemistry. His election to Chairmanship of the Division for two consecutive terms is a mark of the respect in which Max was held by his colleagues for his commonsense approach and wise counsel. He served on the Full Council of the Institute during his term as Chairman of Division and was a member of the Executive Council in 1984. In the wider context of university life. Max was also much involved. He served on various important university committees, including the Bookshop Board of Management and PhD Committee, and was a representative of the School of Physical Sciences elected to the academic board of La Trobe University. Perhaps his most important contribution was as a member of the Committee of Enquiry into University Government at La Trobe in the period 1977-78.
As a man, those who knew him recognized his immense capacity for hard work allied to an equal capacity for the enjoyment of life. He had a gentleness of manner but a great inner strength of will, never more clearly demonstrated than during the last year of his life when he refused to give in to the demands of his illness and carried on his teaching and research activities until literally physically unable to continue. Throughout his life Max was supported by his wife, Marie, and was a loving father to his son and daughter. His many friends in all walks of life will each recognise his loss in their own way, but all will remember him as a man who they have been privileged to call a friend and colleague.
- B. O. West. FRACI