[2] Über Anthocyane und verwandte Verbindungen bei den Centrospermen“ Leuckert initially worked as a junior school teacher in Leipzig.
From 1962 until 1965 Leukert held a part-time scientific assistant position at the Institute for Pharmacognosy at the Free University of Berlin, which became a full-time post after he gained his PhD.
Leuckert turned out to have organisational and management skills that were used as the Institute developed, including during the construction and out-fitting of a new building in the grounds of the botanic garden.
[1] His research and teaching focused on analysis of the secondary metabolites of lichens for taxonomy, adopting new technologies such as mass spectrometry as they became available.
He collaborated with many other research groups, especially those expert in morphology, where he provided the chemical analysis component in projects.
His own work was primarily on genera within the Lecanorales, notably Acarospora, Cladonia, Dimelaena, Lecanora, Lecidea, Lepraria, Lobothallia, Parmelia, Pertusaria, Ophioparma and Rhizoplaca.
[3] In 1996 he was awarded the Acharius Medal by the International Association for Lichenology in recognition of his lifetime's work.