Thursday, January 30, 2014

Help Wanted: The Chemical Names Project

I have a bit of down time whilst waiting for Big New Job to start. After writing about the confusing naming for the aromatic compound nootkatone over at SciAm, I became curious: How do we learn chemical names? Is there some sort of definitive reference point for how to pronounce tricky compounds?

To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to
I propose a fun little experiment: Send me names of strange-looking chemicals, and I'll record myself attempting to pronounce them. Where possible, I'll consult NIST, the Merck Index, the dictionary, and the IPA system to try and provide the best possible answer.*

Ground Rules: The name should be no more than a few syllables long; I'm not looking to pronounce the full IUPAC name for maitotoxin! Regional differences (aluminum / aluminium) won't be accepted. Where possible, try to give me some sort of feel for the origin or etymology of the compound, so I can make a quality recording.

Here's my (short) list of contenders: nootkatone, phenolphthalein, azide, linalool, geissoschizine

Don't Delay! Submit your unpronounceable compounds in the comments today!

*For those who've never heard me speak, I pride myself on clear diction and a relatively flat American accent
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19 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 30, 2014 11:39 AM

    Have you seen Isaac Asimov's essay on the pronunciation of paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde? Bits of it seem to be part of the internet folklore, but not the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChemjobberJanuary 30, 2014 1:30 PM

    If you could get people to pronounce "phthalate" correctly, it would be a big public service.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WavefunctionJanuary 30, 2014 1:39 PM

    Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to record yourself pronouncing the names of all those funky antibodies. Let's bap-i-neu-zu-mab the bejeezus out of that amyloid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2014 12:32 AM

    Zyzzyanone A.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MartynJanuary 31, 2014 4:28 AM

    Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin?

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2014 5:30 AM

    I once heard "acetone" pronounced "Ace-it-own-ee", not to mention the number of times I've heard "tool-een" for toluene.

    Perfluorosebaconitrile is fun, not the least because it has "bacon" in it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. MikeJanuary 31, 2014 8:06 AM

    ‘upenamide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOkina)

    http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/ob/c3ob41519h

    ReplyDelete
  8. MarkJanuary 31, 2014 8:58 AM

    How about:

    Guggulsterone (steroid from guggulu resin)
    Gossyplure
    Zosuquidar

    ReplyDelete
  9. AlexJanuary 31, 2014 9:18 AM

    Przewalskin

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownFebruary 01, 2014 10:19 PM

    spirioiridotectals (I personally still wonder how to pronounce it...)

    A new family of triterpenoids...

    here is the doi: dx.doi.org/10.1021/np400937f

    ReplyDelete
  11. ChemistTFebruary 02, 2014 3:07 PM

    What about all the natural products with apostrophes in the middle? Palau’amine anyone?
    And, frankly, natural products in general: isodidehydrostemofoline, isolaurepinnacin, rubicordifolin?
    In other puzzling topics: why does Dirk Trauner list mesitylene among his finished natural products?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MarkFebruary 03, 2014 9:22 AM

      If I remember rightly, they found that they could convert one polyketide nat. prod. into another via a series of pericyclic reactions, which spat out mesitylene as a side product.

      Delete
    2. MarkFebruary 03, 2014 9:30 AM

      Found the reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200602840

      Delete
    3. DafniFebruary 04, 2014 6:03 PM

      norbornene

      Delete
  12. AnonymousFebruary 03, 2014 11:06 AM

    Acrolein

    ReplyDelete
  13. HapFebruary 04, 2014 10:59 PM

    Ethyl triphenylphosphoranylideneacetate?

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousFebruary 05, 2014 1:26 AM

    Fornicatin (a terpene from fruiting body of Gandoderma fornicatum)
    Many steroids are rather challenging: Dunawithagenine, Digirezigenin, Jatrogrossidentadione, Schleicherastatin, Cryptotanshinone.
    My favorite is Guggulsterone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggulsterone

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousFebruary 09, 2014 6:48 AM

    Please, pronounce "Alkane, alkene and alkyne". While they are really simple, the fun part here is the difference between the way these words are pronounced in English and in Russian languages, which amounts exactly to one double bond: "алкан" rhymes with "nun", "алкен" rhymes with "hen", and "алкин" rhymes with "inn". I am sure this has caused significant confuusion for many Slavic postdocs :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. aliyaaJuly 05, 2016 10:00 AM

    This is something what i was needed a lot. I want to do my chemistry homework but was facing problem in some questions so thank you for this.

    ReplyDelete

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