A couple of days ago, I – this page – was retweeted by Nature Chemistry. Proof:
I was shocked and flattered, of course, and I am pretty confident that this marks the height of my career. If you feel like following in Nature Chemistry’s footpath (who would rather not?), follow @SyntheticRemark on [...]
I hereby admit that it was ages ago since I even looked at a MSDS, and I presume I am not the only one. Why? It is certainly not because I do not care about the safety of myself or others, because I really do, but because these so called documents are – in the [...]
Amides are pretty tough to reduce down to their corresponding amines. Typically, you hydrogenate at high temperature and pressure or use LAH, borane, dissolving metals and stuff like that, under – obviously – pretty harsh conditions. Good old March (5th ed., ISBN: 0471585890) says: “The reaction is more difficult than the reduction of most [...]
If I say free, useful and open source – do you say Microsoft? I didn’t think so. But this time around, it looks like Microsoft has pulled its act together and released a really useful Word add-in for chemists called Chem4Word.
The press release is found here, and the download link and a [...]
The nitro group is inarguably the mother of all functional groups. It has character. It is not dull.
Take a plain organic compound and stick a nitro group to it, and things get just a little more interesting. Lots of cool compounds have nitro groups in them, for a variety of purposes. The notorious [...]
Today, Justus von Liebig’s account was permanently suspended and his fanpage for Synthesis Remarks deleted. Moreover, it appears as if no-one can “like” this page on Facebook. Rats.
For the time being, friends, it looks like we will have to do without Facebook.
Even though large tracts of the Internet and many old and [...]
Albert Niemann (1834–1861) was a German chemist. He is best known for the discovery of cocaine (1.) (or rather its isolation in pure form, from coca leaves) (DOI:10.1002/ardp.18601530202), a feat which earned him his Ph.D. degree.
The same year, in 1860, during “experiments with ethylene and sulfur dichloride” (you know, casually mixing [...]
I was delighted to discover that Justus von Liebig has returned from the dead and created a Facebook Fanpage for this page, available here:
Nah, but the idea is to try to keep this page a little on the formal side (DOI:s and shit), and we’ll take YouTube clips and stuff like that [...]
Dear All,
I was just struck by the grim realization that I probably never will get the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. I have thus been forced to come up with a Plan B for immortality. Find attached my application for eternal life in the form of a Name Reaction. I think I have what [...]
LSD, Krazy Glue, radioactivity, Teflon, Viagra, X-rays, the planet Uranus, penicillin, corn flakes, gravity – the list of things we would never have heard of if we didn’t occasionally luck out as scientists is virtually endless.
Serendipity is roughly “good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries”. A good deal of the most amazing [...]
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