Has TOC ROFL possibly escaped anyone’s attention? Whoever said the primary literature lacked humor was outright wrong. I eat, sleep and shit TOC ROFL. That was perhaps a bit dramatic. Seriously though, TOC ROFL is one of the first pages I open in the morning.
Since this particular abstract has not yet appeared over there, I give you here and now Gilbert Stork:
Tetrahedron 2011, 67, 9754-9764. (DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2011.10.007)
Nice Post. Do you happen to know of any similar reviews of old chemists? I am familiar with one by D.A. Evans, I think in a TL. You know any others?
I would very much like to know the same. Anyone?
There have been several. I love Nicolaou’s (Tetrahedron, 2003, 59, 6683-6738) for its insane schemes and bizarre anecdotes:
“My Uncle John provided me not only with a warm place to stay, but also with my first ‘laboratory’ where I could practice making cakes in his confectionary shop. There I quickly learned the art of making pastry, and I developed a love for it and a taste for the ‘synthesized’ products. In fact, I was flattered by several local professionals who thought that I was so creative at making pastries and birthday cakes that upon completion of high school I should stay in Cyprus where “I had a great future ahead of me practicing the art””.
A bargain at 21MB
I am also aware of similar pieces by Evans (Tetrahedron, 1999, 55, 8589-8608), Overman (Tetrahedron, 2009, 65, 6432-6446), Grubbs (Tetrahedron, 60, 2004, 7117-7140) and Ley (Tetrahedron, 2010 66, 6270-6292). You can can scour the latest list of symposia in print (Tetrahedron, 2011, 67, 10063–10066) for others. Thinking about it, I might post a list of these over at my blog as they are good reading and I think a lot of people don’t even check tetrahedron and aren’t aware of them.
BRSM, cheers for the post,much appreciated. I heard from a colleague, that there’s also one by Padwa where, amongst others, he tells the story of being trapped at university after a snow-storm and being forced to survive on what’s in the vending-machine.Unfortunately I couldn’t yet get my hands on it, but I’ll post it when I know…
BRSM, that’s an awesome list! Thank you very much. I’ve been away for a week without internet access (THAT is a good topic for a new post), so excuse me for the delayed response. Here is your list in a clickable format:
K.C. Nicolaou:
Tetrahedron 2003, 59, 6683-6738. (DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(03)00943-8)
David A. Evans:
Tetrahedron 1999, 55, 8589-8608. (DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4020(99)00436-6)
Larry E. Overman:
Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 6432-6446. (DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2009.05.067)
Robert H. Grubbs:
Tetrahedron 2004, 60, 7117-7140. (DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2004.05.124)
Steven V. Ley:
Tetrahedron 2010, 66, 6270-6292. (DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2010.05.049)
[…] last year an interesting discussion started over at Synthetic Remarks sparked by the autobiographical piece published by Stork in the […]