Malcolm Green was distinguished for his novel contributions to general organo-transition metal chemistry. His main tenor concerned the reactions, interactions and rearrangements of hydride, alkyl, allyl, olefin and such ligands mainly on the arenemolybdenum or bis(cyclopentadienyl)molybdenum or tungsten entities, but his forte was the sheer novelty of the compounds he has discovered. These are numerous, the most notable being the 'inorgano-Grignard reagents' and related lithium and aluminium compounds, complex molecular species containing covalent Mo-Mg and such bonds. The isolation of such highly air-sensitive materials crystallised suitably for X-ray structure determination is evidence of the very high standard of experimental skill typically displayed throughout his work.

Professor Malcolm Green FRS died on 24 July 2020.