Arthur Saul Perlin (1924-2020)

It is with great sadness that the Department of Chemistry announces the passing of Professor Emeritus Arthur Saul Perlin on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, just a few days short of his 97^th birthday. Professor Perlin was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and spent all of his early years in the Maritimes, many of them working on the family farm, The Sanitary Dairy. He eventually came to McGill to study Chemistry and Music, where he obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. As well as being an outstanding organic chemist, he was an accomplished tenor singer, who performed on stage in operas and as a Cantor at his local synagogue. He loved all kinds of out-door activities, but especially hiking, skiing, cycling and ice hockey. After completion of his Ph.D. degree in 1949, under the supervision of Professor Clifford Purves, he did some postdoctoral research at National Research Council of Canada laboratory in Ottawa and at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. After these two research stages, he joined the NRC laboratory in Saskatoon as a research scientist. In 1967, he was appointed as the E. B. Eddy Professor of Industrial and Cellulose Chemistry, a position he held until his retirement in 1991. Throughout his long academic career, he mentored numerous graduate and postdoctoral students, who went on to successful careers in academia and industry. He published extensively in several areas of synthetic organic chemistry and was a pioneer in the use of ¹³C NMR spectroscopy in carbohydrate and cellulose chemistry leading to what is now known as “The Perlin Effect”. His research efforts were recognized both nationally and internationally; for instance, he received the Claude S. Hudson Award from the American Chemical Society for his outstanding work in carbohydrate chemistry.

The Director of the Office for Science and Society, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, was one of Professor Perlin’s graduate students in the early 1970s. Here is an extract from Dr. Schwarz’s eloquent write-up about his unfortunate passing.

As I would learn, Perlin had been one of the first carbohydrate chemists to make use of NMR spectroscopy, and had pioneered the study of C-H coupling constants in the determination of molecular structure. His finding that equatorial and axial hydrogens in cyclohexane coupled to a different extent with the carbon to which they were attached came to be known as the “Perlin Effect.” My research was the extension of this work and involved the synthesis of carbohydrates labeled with C-13 in different positions. The reagent we needed was cyanide labeled with C-13, very expensive at the time, something like $1500 per gram. My hand shook every time I used it and once I lost a whole batch of a labeled glucose compound when my rotary evaporator malfunctioned, and the flask fell off. Professor Perlin’s response was to immediately order a new evaporator for me and another vial of cyanide without a single word of reproach. Class all the way.

Dr. Perlin taught undergraduate organic chemistry and he would have us graduate students help mark exams. As I recall, we tended to be tough and he would always go over the exams to squeeze out a few more marks for students. That was his “modus operandi” in general, giving everyone the benefit of doubt where possible. Several times a year, the Perlins would invite the whole group of students, postdocs and technicians to their house for a party. There would be food galore, ping pong contests and Mrs. Perlin would serve up her legendary pies. We got to know the five Perlin children well, all shining examples of an exemplary upbringing. There was singing and talk of bicycling and skiing, activities both Ruth and Arthur practiced into their eighties. It was a delight to witness the love and affection that blossomed in that family. We maintained a connection long after he retired from McGill. I would frequently get calls from him about articles I had written, and he continued to offer valuable suggestions. After he moved into the Kensington Place retirement home, he would arrange for me to speak there and I was always thrilled to see his beaming face in the front row. Indeed, there would have been no such presentations if it hadn’t been for his encouragement to follow my dream of demystifying chemistry for the public. For the last couple of years, when he had become too frail to come down to the lecture, I would always go and visit him in his apartment. We would chat about all sorts of things, from musical theatre to chemistry. He still read journals and kept up to date! My last visit was in February, just before the coronavirus curse hit. Although he was weak, his mind was one hundred percent and his memory probably better than mine. Last Wednesday Arthur Perlin passed away quietly, a victim of COVID-19. He took a little piece of me with him.