He then undertook doctoral research supervised by Edward Charles Cyril Baly into the application of optical spectroscopy.
From 1926 his work developed the use of absorption spectroscopy with biological molecules that absorbed light, allowing their concentration to be estimated in solutions.
This technology, in collaboration with Ian Heilbron's interest in a therapy for rickets, led him to discover the vitamin A2 and several related compounds.
His research group became focused on fat-soluble vitamins and was also among the first to identify ubiquinone and the polyprenol family of compounds.
[2] During the Second World War he was involved in studies to understand the requirements of vitamin A by people that gave him a new interest in nutrition.
After the war he organised meetings for industrial scientists around Merseyside about the use of spectroscopy He was the chair of the government's Committee on Food Additives from 1963 to 1968.
[3] In 1978 the Biochemical Society established the annual Morton Lecture in his memory for contribution to lipid biochemistry.