ChemCafé

Synthetic chemists use to perform their reactions in various pieces of glassware such as round-bottomed flasks, vials, Schlenk tubes of simple beakers. An article recently published in PNAS(1) reports synthetic chemistry performed in an unusual environment, as the authors present it, ‘in the physiologically relevant context of a mouse‘!
The team from University of California (UC) [...]

When inhalated, organophosphorus compounds can cause death within minutes. Although they are prohibited by the Chemical Convention Weapons, several states still possess large stockpiles of these chemicals, and terrorist organisations are not particularly known for complying with international conventions – one of these organophosphorus compounds is sarin, (in)famous for having been spread in the Tokyo [...]

It is a pity Mr Nobel did not think about including a prize for biology in his final will. Today’s announcement was eagerly awaited in my department, particularly since a very member of our institute was part of the Thomson Reuters nominees, which raised considerable buzz over the last couple of weeks. We all crossed [...]

Among the loads of various ‘concentration calculators’ and ‘grams-versus-moles converters’ that are available online, I think the one provided by WolframAlpha can be quite useful and is nicely done. For example, if you need to know how many moles of iron are present in 5 grams, just query ‘how many moles are in 5 grams [...]

Chemical and physical explanations are invoked in order to explain the popular phenomenon referred to as a chemical fountain (or chemical geyser) that one obtains upon mixture of diet Coke and Mentos candies.

Phosphorus was known since heroic alchemistry times for its propensity to emit light and spontaneously self-ignite when exposed to air. These rather unusual properties make this compound dangerous to handle and transport. The most reactive allotrope of phosphorus is the so-called white phosphorus (also named yellow phosphorus, never mind), which in more modern times became [...]

To conclude the ISMSC 2009 overview, let’s sum up what amazing things were presented in the last days… We had a really funny talk from Prof. J. Sessler – great cartoons, but great science as well! Then Prof. L. Lindoy presented nice ‘boomerang complexes’ – interesting name for research produced in Australia – as well [...]

As I said in an older post, I was last week attending the ISMSC (stands for International Symposium in Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry) in Maastricht, in The Netherlands. We attended many great lectures given by talented speakers (and researchers), and the atmosphere was quite relaxed, as you can see in the following not-to-chemical summary of [...]

Our good old friend and companion of many chemical adventures, the periodic table, will soon have a new element in its seventh, unfinished row. The so far unnamed element 112 was recently reported by a team from the GSI Helmholzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Centre for Heavy Ions Research). The researchers led by prof. Sigurd Hofmann were [...]

Spring is usually associated with renewal, growth and mating. For some people (including myself) it also means hay fever. So last morning I was taking my daily pill against allergies, I looked at the label on the flask, where it is mentionned that the active ingredient is ‘cetirizine hydrochloride‘, which serves as ‘antihistamine‘. So, what [...]