Jeffrey Barry Harborne FRS (1 September 1928, in Bristol – 21 July 2002) was a British chemist who specialised in phytochemistry. He was Professor of Botany at the University of Reading, 1976–93, then Professor emeritus. He contributed to more than 40 books and 270 research papers and was a pioneer in ecological biochemistry, particularly in the complex chemical interactions between plants, microbes and insects.
Education Harborne was educated at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire and the University of Bristol, where he graduated in chemistry in 1949. He earned a PhD in 1953 with a thesis on the naturally occurring oxygen heterocyclic compounds with Wilson Baker (1900–2002).
Research Between 1953 and 1955, he worked as a postdoc with Professor Theodore Albert Geissman at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying phenolic plant pigments, including anthocyanins. The identification of these substances, he made use of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. After his return to the UK, he joined the Potato Genetics group at the John Innes Research Institute, then located at Bayfordbury. Here he worked with K.S. Dodds on the phenolics of Solanum species, extending his knowledge of anthocyanins. This work grew to encompass a wide range of mostly garden plants. In addition to discovering novel anthocyanidins, he made in-depth studies of their glycosylation and began work on their acylation. During this time he forged links with E. C. Bate-Smith and Tony Swain at Cambridge, Swain arranging for him to edit his first book, The biochemistry of phenolic compounds. His time at the John Innes ended when the Potato Genetics group was wound up, and the institution itself moved to Norwich. Between 1965 and 1968, Harborne worked as a research assistant at the University of Liverpool. After this, he was Reader in the Department of Botany, the University of Reading, England. In 1976 he became Professor in the Department of Botany, the University of Reading. Between 1987 and 1993, he was head of the Department of Botany at the University of Reading. In 1993, he retired. He had during his tenure at the University of Reading also positions as visiting professor at the University Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1973), the University of Texas at Austin (1976), the University of California at Santa Barbara (1977) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1981). Harborne investigated the role of flavonoids in interactions between plants and insects. He also investigated the relationship between anthocyanins and the ecology of pollination. He also studied the role of phytoalexins in members of the bean family (Fabaceae), the rose family (Rosaceae) and the carrot family (Apiaceae). He published on chemotaxonomy as in his research articles on the genetic control of expression of anthocyanins, flavones and aurones in the primrose family (Primulaceae) in snapdragons (Antirrhinum) and a number of other plants. He also published on isoflavones and chemical ecology. In his book, Phytochemicals Methods: A Guide to Modern Techniques of Plant Analysis, Harborne described a number of analytical methods in plant chemistry that he developed for the system of distribution of anthocyanins in major plant groups. In Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids he described the biochemistry of flavonoids in various plant groups. In the scientific journal Natural Product Reports he wrote a series of review articles about the discovery of anthocyanins and other flavonoids. In his book Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry he described the ecological role of natural substances. The publication of this book is seen as the starting point of the study of environmental chemistry. Developments in the chemical ecology he described in a series of review articles in Natural Product Reports. He was author or co-author of about 270 research and review articles. He was also author or editor of some forty books. From 1972 Harborne was the Executive Editor of the journal Phytochemistry. Between 1986 and 1999 he was chief editor of this journal. He was the founder of the magazine Analysis Phytochemicals and he was editor of Methods in Plant Biochemistry. Harborne received a number of awards during his lifetime. In 1985 he received the Linnean Medal from the Linnean Society of London for his services to botany. He also received medals from the Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE Medal) (1986) and the International Society of Chemical Ecology (1993). In 1993 he was awarded the Pergamon Phytochemistry Prize. In 1995, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2010, the University of Reading's Plant Science Laboratories, where he was Professor, were named the Harborne Building in his honour.
Publications Biochemistry of Phenolic Compounds, 1964 Comparative Biochemistry of the Flavonoids, 1967 Phytochemical Phylogeny, 1970 Phytochemical Ecology, 1972 Phytochemical Methods, 1973, 3rd edn 1998 Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry, 1977, 4th edn 1993 Phytochemical Aspects of Plant and Animal Coevolution, 1978 Plant Chemosystematics, 1984 The Flavonoids: advances in research since 1986, 1994 The Handbook of Natural Flavonoids, vol 1 and 2, 1999 Phytochemical Dictionary, 1993, 2nd edn 1999 Dictionary of Plant Toxins, 1996 The Handbook of Flavonoid Pigments, 1999 The Handbook of Natural Flavonoids, 1999 Chemical Dictionary of Economic Plants, 2001
Career Biochemist, the John Innes Institute, 1955–65 Research Fellow, University of Liverpool, 1965–68 Reader, the University of Reading, UK, 1968–76 Professor, Dept. of Botany, the University of Reading, UK, 1976–93 Visiting professor, University of Texas at Austin, 1976 Visiting professor, University of California, 1977 He was editor-in-chief of the journal Phytochemistry, 1972–98.
Honours Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 1956 Fellow of the Biochemical Society, 1957 Plenary Lecturer, IUPAC Natural Products Symposium, 1976 Gold Medal in Botany, Linnean Society, 1985 Fellow of the Linnean Society, 1986 Silver Medal, Phytochemical Society of Europe, 1986 Silver Medal, International Society of Chemical Ecology, 1993 Fellow of the Institute of Biology, 1994 Fellow of the Royal Society, 1995
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