Tony Swain (1922–1987)[1] was a chemist known for his definition of a plant polyphenol with Bate-Smith, Haslam and White, which includes specific structural characteristics common to all phenolics having a tanning property.
The discovery in 1943 by Martin and Synge of paper chromatography provided for the first time the means of surveying the phenolic constituents of plants and for their separation and identification.
The Plant Phenolics Group was founded in Cambridge in 1957 by, among others, Swain, Jeffrey Harborne, EC Bate-smith and Eric Conn. Swain became the first secretary of this informal group of people interested in plant phenols.
Swain co-founded Phytochemistry in 1961 with Robert Maxwell and Gilbert Richards, which today serves as the scientific journal of the Phytochemical Society of Europe and the Phytochemical Society of North America.. For the first ten years, Swain was the editor of the magazine.
Between 1965 and 1968, Swain served as a scientific adviser in the Cabinet Office, part of the British government.
Here he was engaged in research into chemical ecology and the evolutionary biology of interactions between plants and animals.
After this he returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London England; where he was involved with metabolites of micro-organisms in the period before his death .
Lynn Margulis, Clifford Matthews and Aaron Haselton co- dedicated the book Environmental Evolution to him.