Professor Allan White: In Memoriam

A special issue of the Australian Journal of Chemistry in 2012 (Volume 65(7)) dedicated to Allan White on the occasion of his 75th birthday contains a brief biography. Little can now be added to that other than to record the sad admiration of his colleagues who witnessed the stoicism of his long battle with myeloma which ended in March 2016. This memorial issue of the Australian Journal of Chemistry is intended to be a tribute to the man himself and his work, containing brief reviews of several fields to which Allan’s contributions were immense.

The crystallographic work of Allan White, in large part conducted in association with Brian Skelton, is truly remarkable. His myriad structure determinations, nonetheless, are only part of the legacy of this exceptional scientist. This legacy extended well beyond scientific fields and included the personal benefit of his many associates, reflecting the warmth, perspicacity, and wit of the man. His efforts to establish a comprehensive, systematic foundation to the coordination chemistry of practically every metal in the periodic table through structural studies are one outstanding example of his contributions to contemporary chemistry and perhaps reflect his major personal interest. His very numerous national and international collaborations, however, led to contributions to fields as diverse as natural product chemistry, organometallic catalysis, spectroscopy, and magnetism.

One thing that Allan was never able to find the time for was the writing of reviews. We have attempted, as noted above, to compensate for this by including brief reviews of his major areas of interest in this special issue. They are not simple reviews, since in each case it has been possible to include substantial contributions from Allan himself in the way of the very numerous structure determinations unpublished at the time of his passing. Other non-review articles are also based on text constructed by Allan and, under normal circumstances, would have been ones for which he would have been the corresponding author. His work lives on, even in the form that Allan himself was amused to refer to as ‘circumlocutory Whitespeak’, and we hope the contents of this special issue of the Journal will provide a stimulus to the new generation as great as that which Allan provided to the old.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.