Sir James Colquhoun Irvine KBE FRS FRSE FEIS
(1877-1952)

Died aged 75

Sir James Colquhoun Irvine KBE JP PhD (Leipzig) DL DSc BSc FRS FRSE FEIS (9 May 1877 – 12 June 1952) was a British organic chemist and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1921 until his death. As a research chemist, Irvine worked on the application of methylation techniques to carbohydrates, and isolated the first methylated sugars, trimethyl and tetramethyl glucose.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

Chemical structures of simple sugars. Near this site in 1903, James Colquhoun Irvine, Thomas Purdie and their team found a way to understand the chemical structure of simple sugars like glucose and lactose. Over the next 18 years this allowed them to lay the foundations of modern carbohydrate chemistry, with implications for medicine, nutrition and biochemistry.

25 North Street, St Andrews, United Kingdom where they found a way to understand the chemical structure of simple sugars (1903)