tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60105058905065260022024-03-18T05:48:02.815-04:00Just Like CookingMolecular Rapscallion since Twenty ElevenSee Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.comBlogger559125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-46378911640221282312019-03-08T21:03:00.000-05:002019-03-08T21:03:05.083-05:00Move On Along to Colorblind Chemistry for more Bumper Cars!This is just to say<br />
<br />
I have allowed<br />
Dr. Marshall<br />
to take over<br />
<a href="https://colorblindchemist.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/chemistry-bumper-cars-2019/" target="_blank">this column</a><br />
<br />
and which<br />
you were probably<br />
clicking<br />
for updates<br />
<br />
Forgive me<br />
they needed a home<br />
he has time<br />
I have less<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>With apologies and kudos to both <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/just-say" target="_blank">William Carlos Williams</a> and <a href="http://chemjobber.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Chemjobber</a>, who enjoys adapting it from time to time.</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com168tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-53435232815153313472017-12-28T22:20:00.000-05:002018-05-27T07:26:32.180-04:00Chemistry Bumper Cars, 2018Multiple anonymous internet comments agree: Faculty moves still occur with rapidity and fluidity. Think of them like a "jobs plasma," flowing around major campuses every few years.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2017/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2017.html" target="_blank">2017 list</a> had grown like a wild blackberry bramble, so it needed a trim. If you hear of an impending 2018 move, please tell me in the comments, and I'll post in the "Pending Confirmation" section. Escape from this purgatory involves sending me a link or other documentation from the new institution. Happy speculating!<br />
<br />
<b><u>Moves</u></b><br />
<br />
Nozomi Ando (<a href="https://chemistry.princeton.edu/faculty/ando" target="_blank">Princeton to Cornell</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Alan Aspuru-Guzik (<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/3/30/chem-prof-to-canada/" target="_blank">Harvard to Toronto</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yimon Aye (<a href="https://actu.epfl.ch/news/prof-yimon-aye-has-been-officially-appointed-by-th/" target="_blank">Cornell to EPFL</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark Banaszak Holl (<a href="https://www.monash.edu/engineering/markbanaszakholl" target="_blank">Michigan to Monash</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Christoph Bostedt (Northwestern to EPFL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kenneth Brown (<a href="https://ece.duke.edu/faculty/kenneth-brown" target="_blank">Georgia Tech to Duke ECE</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tim Cernak (<a href="http://www.chembio.umich.edu/people/faculty/cernak.html" target="_blank">Merck to Michigan</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Philip Cole (<a href="http://dms.hms.harvard.edu/bbs/fac/cole.php" target="_blank">JHU to Harvard</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Qiang Cui (Wisconsin to BU)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tanja Cuk (<a href="http://www.colorado.edu/chembio/tanja-cuk" target="_blank">Berkeley to UC Boulder</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Li Deng (Brandeis to Westlake Inst, China)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eilaf Egap (<a href="https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/eilafegap/author/eahmed3/" target="_blank">Emory to Rice</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Aaron Esser-Kahn (<a href="https://ime.uchicago.edu/esser_kahn_group/people/aaron_esser_kahn/" target="_blank">UCI to Chicago</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fabien Gagosz (<a href="https://science.uottawa.ca/chemistry/people/gagosz-fabien" target="_blank">CNRS to Ottawa</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sharon Hammes-Schiffer (<a href="https://news.yale.edu/2017/08/24/sharon-hammes-schiffer-named-inaugural-kirkwood-professor-chemistry" target="_blank">UIUC to Yale</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eva Harth (<a href="https://www.harth-research-group.org/members/" target="_blank">Vanderbilt to Houston</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Jen Heemstra (<a href="http://chemistry.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/heemstra-jen.html" target="_blank">Utah to Emory</a>) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ryan Hili (<a href="http://crbi.info.yorku.ca/2017/09/seminar-assist-prof-ryan-hili-october-18-2017/" target="_blank">UGA to York</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Rong Huang (<a href="https://www.mcmp.purdue.edu/faculty/huang19" target="_blank">VCU to Purdue</a>) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kami Hull (<a href="https://cm.utexas.edu/news/entry/kami-hull-and-zach" target="_blank">UIUC to UT Austin</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tristan Lambert (<a href="http://chemistry.cornell.edu/ccb-welcomes-prof-tristan-lambert-cornell" target="_blank">Columbia to Cornell</a>) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jared Lewis (<a href="http://lewislab.uchicago.edu/Main.html" target="_blank">Chicago to Indiana</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fu-Sen Liang (<a href="http://chemistry.case.edu/people/faculty/" target="_blank">UNM to CWRU</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael McGehee (<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/mcgehee/contact_info.html" target="_blank">Stanford to UC Boulder</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Brian McNaughton (CSU to Delaware)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Christian Melander (<a href="http://chemistry.nd.edu/people/christian-melander/" target="_blank">NC State to Notre Dame</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pere Miro (<a href="http://www.usd.edu/faculty-and-staff/Pere-Miro" target="_blank">UNF to South Dakota</a>) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Garrett Miyake (<a href="https://wp.natsci.colostate.edu/miyakelab/g-m-m/" target="_blank">UC Boulder to Colorado State</a>) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bill Morandi (<a href="https://twitter.com/morandilab?lang=en" target="_blank">Max Planck to ETH</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Peter Nemes (<a href="http://www.chem.umd.edu/news/award-winning-chemist-peter-nemes-join-umd-faculty" target="_blank">GWU to UMD - College Park</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jens Norskov (<a href="http://www.dtu.dk/english/news/2018/01/dtu-professorship-for-top-researcher-from-stanford-university?id=21ed8a03-2f5c-4254-bf29-1061b0c1c43e" target="_blank">Stanford to DTU</a>)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hien Nguyen (<a href="http://chem.wayne.edu/faculty/nguyen/index.html" target="_blank">Iowa to Wayne State</a>)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rob Paton (</span><a href="http://www.chem.colostate.edu/dr-robert-paton/" target="_blank">Oxford to Colorado State</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">)</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christine Payne (<a href="https://mems.duke.edu/faculty/christine-payne" target="_blank">Georgia Tech to Duke ME</a>)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Poul Petersen (Cornell to RUB)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scott Phillips (</span><a href="https://coen.boisestate.edu/faculty-staff/sphillips/" target="_blank">PSU to Boise State</a><span style="font-size: small;">)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jen Pokorski (CWRU to UCSD)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mario Rivera (<a href="http://www.lsu.edu/science/chemistry/news/2017/Mario_Rivera.php" target="_blank">Kansas to LSU</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Rubenstein (<a href="http://mems.duke.edu/faculty/michael-rubinstein" target="_blank">UNC to Duke</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jayaraman Sivaguru (<a href="https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/chemistry/faculty/jayaraman-sivaguru.html" target="_blank">North Dakota to BGSU</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Christine Thomas (<a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/people/wade.522" target="_blank">Brandeis to Ohio State</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bill Tolman (<a href="http://tolman.chem.umn.edu/" target="_blank">Minnesota to Washington U St. Louis</a>)<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">thanks, Chemjobber and Bill!</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeff Van Humbeck (<a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/chem_info/profiles/jeffrey-van-humbeck" target="_blank">MIT to Calgary</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Greg Verdine (<a href="https://endpts.com/harvard-biotech-wiz-greg-verdine-grabs-a-55m-a-round-to-build-a-groundbreaking-biotech/" target="_blank">Fog or LifeMine</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">David Walt (<a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/david-walt/" target="_blank">Tufts to Wyss Institute</a>) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Ryan White (<a href="https://www.echemnanobio.com/" target="_blank">UMBC to Cincinnati</a>) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elizabeth Young (<a href="https://chemistry.cas2.lehigh.edu/content/welcome-professor-elizabeth-young" target="_blank">Amherst to Lehigh</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Junrong Zheng (</span><a href="http://chemistry.alliedacademies.com/speaker/2018/junrong-zheng-peking-university-china" target="_blank">Rice to Peking</a><span style="font-size: small;">)</span> </span><br />
<br />
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
Karena Chapman (Argonne to Stony Brook)<br />
Ming Hammond (Berkeley to Utah)<br />
Tom Mallouk (PSU to Penn)<br />
Douglas Philip (<a href="http://chemistry.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/dp/group/" target="_blank">St. Andrews to Northwestern</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
Ian Webb (PNNL to IUPUI)<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_Q6Pk5I-po/WkWf0OFuliI/AAAAAAAAEy0/n-0OyjYX7UApkTuEO-dgZ1L9YJ34vLWcQCLcBGAs/s1600/TMNT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_Q6Pk5I-po/WkWf0OFuliI/AAAAAAAAEy0/n-0OyjYX7UApkTuEO-dgZ1L9YJ34vLWcQCLcBGAs/s1600/TMNT.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>OK, it's an imperfect employment metaphor, but stellar profs *are* like mutant superheroes....right?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b><b><u>New Hires</u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Netz Arroyo (<a href="https://www.netzarroyo.org/" target="_blank">JHU</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bram Axelrod (<a href="https://www.chem.purdue.edu/activity/public/profile/chem/aaxelro" target="_blank">Purdue</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Keriann Backus (<a href="http://www.biolchem.ucla.edu/people/faculty/keriann-m-backus" target="_blank">UCLA Biochem</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Buz Barstow (Cornell)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kwabena Bediako (<a href="https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/college-chemistry-welcomes-new-professors" target="_blank">Berkeley</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Elizabeth Bess (<a href="https://www.chem.uci.edu/news/13000" target="_blank">UCI</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ambika Bhagi-Damodaran (Minnesota)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Aaron Bloomfield (Duquesne)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Zarko Boskovic (<a href="https://twitter.com/djavko/status/1000483345023807489" target="_blank">Kansas</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jennifer Bridwell-Rabb (<a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/chem/people/faculty/jennifer-bridwell-rabb.html" target="_blank">Michigan</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Carl Brozek (Oregon)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Carson Bruns (<a href="https://www.colorado.edu/mechanical/carson-bruns" target="_blank">UC Boulder</a>)</span><br />
Jonathon Caranto (Central FL)<br />
Amanda Cook (Oregon)<br />
Luke Davis (<a href="http://chem.tufts.edu/faculty/davis/index.html" target="_blank">Tufts</a>)<br />
Selvan Demir (MSU)<br />
Megan Fieser (USC)<br />
Joseph Fournier (Wash U St. Louis)<br />
Stephen Fried (JHU)<br />
Rebecca Gieseking (Brandeis)<br />
Robert Gilliard (UVA)<br />
Grace Han (Brandeis)<br />
Hee-Sun Han (<a href="https://chemistry.illinois.edu/directory/profile/hshan" target="_blank">Illinois</a>)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Scott Hansen (<a href="https://chemistry.uoregon.edu/profile/shansen5/" target="_blank">Oregon</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jordan Harshman (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/chemistry/index.htm" target="_blank">Auburn</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dugan Hayes (<a href="https://www.chm.uri.edu/index.php?email=dhayes&dest=display_abstract&back=Faculty%20and%20Research&this=index.php?dest=facres&button=facres" target="_blank">URI</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark Hedglin (Penn State)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Shabnam Hematian (UNCG)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Raul Hernandez Sanchez (Pitt)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Glen Hocky (NYU)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Scott Horowitz (University of Denver)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ashlee Howarth (<a href="https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/chemistry/about/faculty.html" target="_blank">Concordia</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ying Hu (<a href="http://chem.uic.edu/profiles/hu-ying/" target="_blank">UIC</a>)</span><br />
Tao Huan (UBC)<br />
Michael Inkpen (<a href="http://chem.usc.edu/faculty/Inkpen.html" target="_blank">USC</a>)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jiangbing Jiang (Cincinnatti)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tim Johnstone (<a href="http://lippardlab.mit.edu/news" target="_blank">UCSC</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rashad Karimov (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/chemistry/karimov/index.htm" target="_blank">Auburn</a>)</span><br />
Christopher Kelly (<a href="http://thekellylab.com/chris.html" target="_blank">VCU</a>)<br />
Sarah King (<a href="http://w0.rz-berlin.mpg.de/pc/electrondynamix/" target="_blank">Chicago</a>)<br />
Lydia Kisley (CWRU)<br />
Abigail Knight (<a href="https://www.abigailsknight.com/the-group/" target="_blank">UNC Chapel Hill</a>)<br />
Joshua Kogot (Miss State)<br />
Kevin Kou (UC Riverside)<br />
Mike Larsen (Western Washington)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Steven Lopez (<a href="https://cos.northeastern.edu/faculty/steven-lopez/" target="_blank">Northeastern</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Marek Majewski (<a href="https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/chemistry/about/faculty.html" target="_blank">Concordia</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lara Malins (<a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/malins-l" target="_blank">ANU</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda Manhart (Temple)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeff Martell (Wisconsin)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jarad Mason (<a href="https://chemistry.harvard.edu/news/warm-welcome-dr-jarad-mason" target="_blank">Harvard</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesse McDaniel (<a href="https://ww2.chemistry.gatech.edu/mcdaniel/jesse-g-mcdaniel" target="_blank">Georgia Tech</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Quentin Michaudel (Texas A+M)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jeff Mighion (<a href="https://www.kent.edu/chemistry/profile/jeffrey-mighion" target="_blank">Kent State</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Phillip Milner (Cornell)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas Montgomery (Duquesne)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Shuming Nie (UIUC)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lea Nienhaus (FSU)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lisa Olshansky (UIUC)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Zachariah Page (<a href="https://cm.utexas.edu/news/entry/kami-hull-and-zach" target="_blank">UT Austin</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Malay Patra (<a href="http://lippardlab.mit.edu/news" target="_blank">TIFR</a>) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Amanda Patrick (Miss State)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Shauna Paradine (Rochester)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Joe Patterson (<a href="https://www.chem.uci.edu/news/13000" target="_blank">UCI</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Nicholas Race (Minnesota)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Monika Raj (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/chemistry/index.htm" target="_blank">Auburn</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Lindsay Repka (<a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/chem/faculty/node/555137" target="_blank">Middlebury</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Jon Rittle (<a href="https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/college-chemistry-welcomes-new-professors" target="_blank">Berkeley</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Anthony Rojas (Salisbury)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Sudeshna Roy (<a href="https://pharmacy.olemiss.edu/biomolecularsciences/team/dr-sudeshna-roy/" target="_blank">Ole Miss</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Michael Ruggiero (UVM)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Tomce Runcevski (SMU)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Joel Smith (<a href="https://www.chem.fsu.edu/smith-bio.php" target="_blank">FSU</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Rachel Steinhardt (Syracuse)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Troy Stich (Wake Forest)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Alexandra Strom (Smith) <i>two sources</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">John Swierk (Binghamton)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Sesha Vempati (<a href="http://w0.rz-berlin.mpg.de/pc/electrondynamix/" target="_blank">IIT Bhilai</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bess Vlaisavljevich (<a href="http://www.usd.edu/faculty-and-staff/Bess-Vlaisavljevich" target="_blank">South Dakota</a>)</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Wenjing Wang (Michigan)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Alison Wendlandt (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/alison-wendlandt-join-department" target="_blank">MIT</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Sidney Wilkerson-Hill (<a href="http://www.chem.unc.edu/people/faculty/wilkerson-hill/index.html" target="_blank">UNC</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Xin Yan (Texas A+M)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Elizabeth Young (<a href="https://chemistry.cas2.lehigh.edu/content/welcome-professor-elizabeth-young" target="_blank">Lehigh</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Ran Zhao (<a href="https://ranzhaoualberta.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Alberta</a>)</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
Robert Comito (Houston)<br />
Scott Cushing (Caltech)<br />
Ryan Hadt (Caltech)<br />
Neel Shah (Columbia)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>--</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>For 2017 moves,<a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2017/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2017.html" target="_blank"> click here</a></i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2016 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2016/02/chemistry-bumper-cars-2016-2017.html" target="_blank">click here</a></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2015 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2015-2016.html">click here</a></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2014 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2014/06/chemistry-bumper-cars-2014-2015.html">click here</a>.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2012-2013 moves, <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/03/26/academic-movement-and-hires-2012-2013/">click here</a>. </span></i>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com352tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-71761854904985454932017-08-02T07:17:00.000-04:002017-08-02T07:17:42.695-04:00Conference Talks, Great Success!'Tis the Season for stitching up the last year of your life, making a few key graphics, and tossing them into a (presumably) 30-minute talk to inform and entertain your colleagues. That's right, <strike>Summer</strike> Seminar Vacation!<br />
<br />
But wait - will your message come through? Will I, as an informed audience member, walk out of the auditorium singing your praises, or desperately <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2016/08/enthusiasm-goes-long-way.html" target="_blank">fighting off Morpheus</a>?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YKpPZmEmtCE/WYGsl_RAWPI/AAAAAAAAEwo/CuDPVxGnO0UQ8oceaNCVZWIHJ53NtNFPwCLcBGAs/s1600/Moss_2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="1306" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YKpPZmEmtCE/WYGsl_RAWPI/AAAAAAAAEwo/CuDPVxGnO0UQ8oceaNCVZWIHJ53NtNFPwCLcBGAs/s320/Moss_2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'd rather watch this grow all day than listen to certain speakers again...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div>
Without further ado, I'd like to capture some honest feedback, both given and received, that I'll call the "Summer Talk Axioms." Certainly, nothing is new under the sun: I tread in tracks left by <a href="http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2014/09/18/the_worst_seminar" target="_blank">Derek</a>, <a href="http://chemjobber.blogspot.co.id/2011/06/last-seminar-you-attended.html" target="_blank">Chemjobber</a>, <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/thescepticalchymist/2013/01/the-art-of-presenting.html" target="_blank">Fabian</a>, <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2011/02/11/the-unwritten-rules-of-chemistry-seminars/" target="_blank">ChemBark</a>, and many other sage counselors. I question only that, given these many posts (and more sure to come), how has the message has not percolated into the community faster? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, to the meat of it:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Help me learn: <a href="http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/agu/scientific_talk.html" target="_blank">What are the big takeaways</a>? Why did you do them, and how? If you were forced to deliver this same talk in 2 minutes, could you do it, <i>while maintaining</i> understanding in your listener? That's a tough benchmark!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Timing: For the love of all that is holy, <b>please</b> do not attempt to deliver a 50-minute "pre-fab" slide deck inside of 30 minutes. Ditto a 30-minute deck inside a 15-minute lightning talk. If you are switching slides every 20 seconds, it's nigh impossible for your poor audience to keep up...</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Engagement: Stop every few minutes to look someone in the eye. Tell a joke. Modulate your voice. Take a drink of water to let a point sink in. Presentation skills belong to that witches' brew of soft skills and social norms blended with (some) content. Often, we listeners engage more with the person and their body language in place of the content.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Tell <b><u>a</u></b> story. <b>One</b>. Not multiple vignettes of seemingly unrelated threads. Present a logical whole.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Don't repeat "<i>this is exciting!</i>" If you have to reinforce this, your content almost surely isn't.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Know your time, and practice delivery. As a hint, you're probably over time when the audience begins to check their phones. Or mutters. Leaves for cigarette and bathroom breaks. A good talk has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/01/06/six-ways-to-be-an-amazing-public-speaker/" target="_blank">distinct landmarks</a> for <b>major points</b> and <b>applause / recognition</b>. Know yours.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Proofread. Ask someone who loves you to proofread. Ask someone who hates you to proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Especially embarrassing - misspelled titles!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The four "<a href="https://hbr.org/2013/02/how-to-give-a-meaningful-thank" target="_blank">Thank-Yous</a>" - Thank your host for introducing you. Thank the organizers / school / company for the opportunity to visit. Thank your group, coworkers, or boss for their collegiality. And thank the audience for listening. This goes a very, very long way.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Answer questions succinctly. Two or three sentences, and a promise to follow up after the talk, should be sufficient. Anything more holds the other 99% of your audience captive, while you dig through back-up slides and comment about long-departed group members. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H1ysXZxiPlw/WYGyNBYM1nI/AAAAAAAAEw4/giRvelX0P-gp2QLQDEphTe-09z5FjBwnwCLcBGAs/s1600/borat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H1ysXZxiPlw/WYGyNBYM1nI/AAAAAAAAEw4/giRvelX0P-gp2QLQDEphTe-09z5FjBwnwCLcBGAs/s320/borat.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your talk was nice. Very nice. Great success!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />Readers, I'm sure I've missed some, and welcome any input in the comments. </div>
<div>
Happy Summer!</div>
<br /></div>
See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com408tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-6678002418010176952017-06-24T08:08:00.002-04:002017-06-24T08:08:51.031-04:00Help Wanted: C&EN Audience Engagement Editor<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello, intrepid readers. Hope those of you living above the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer" target="_blank">Tropic of Cancer</a> are enjoying the start of Summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Though this usually falls into the <i><a href="http://chemjobber.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Chemjobber</a></i> camp, an inside source asks whether I can recommend an engaged, excited, passionate web-denizen for a newly-created role at the newsmagazine. From the horse's mouth (emphasis mine):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"We're hiring for someone to act as the 'voice of the magazine' on our social accounts, writing our newsletters, and helping us shape overall social and engagement strategies. Important would be to have someone who is<b> comfortable with social</b> and <b>loves chemistry</b>."</i></span></span></blockquote>
Wow, that sounds like the <u>exact job</u> I would have wanted coming out of grad school! However, I can't keep pace with the ever-changing landscape of social media* and iPhone apps. It's best left to someone, methinks, with an "always-on" mentality and a quicker set of thumbs than yours truly.<br />
<br />
If you or someone you know are interested, please <a href="http://bit.ly/2sZ79Eq" target="_blank">apply here</a>.<br />
Look forward to crossing paths with you in the Great Social Experiment.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zQoN349w3Ck/WU5VYqbY3-I/AAAAAAAAEwI/2J48Li33mBY8HXumQzqttJOloBHOClEvwCLcBGAs/s1600/Treescape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zQoN349w3Ck/WU5VYqbY3-I/AAAAAAAAEwI/2J48Li33mBY8HXumQzqttJOloBHOClEvwCLcBGAs/s640/Treescape.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
--<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>*</i><i>Get off my lawn, you kids with yer Tencent and Snapchat and Baidu and Twitterz and Hipstergram and Skype and Facebook and Yelp and hi5 and Qzone and Friendster!</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-48842601339199759792017-01-21T00:56:00.000-05:002017-12-28T20:44:25.943-05:00Chemistry Bumper Cars, 2017In the age of globalization, Reddit, DM, and coffee shops, it's surprising when you <b>don't</b> hear about a faculty move at least two months ahead of it becoming reality.<br />
<br />
(<i>Alert! Repurposed text to follow!</i>)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2016/02/chemistry-bumper-cars-2016-2017.html" target="_blank">Last year's list</a> has grown ungainly, and so it's time for a new batch. Same rules apply: If you hear of a move, please tell me in the comments, and I'll post in the "Pending Confirmation" section. Escape from pending purgatory involves sending me a link or other documentation from the new institution. Happy speculating!<br />
<br />
<b>Update, May 2017</b>: Are you a newly-minted prof? The stalwart reporting cadre of <i>C&EN</i> want to make you aware of a (private, exclusive) Facebook group to share stories and support your new role. Want in? <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/709973672508401/" target="_blank">Go here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Moves</u></b><br />
<br />
Huiwang Ai (<a href="https://med.virginia.edu/faculty/faculty-listing/ha8m/" target="_blank">UC Riverside to UVA</a>)<br />
Adam Braunschweig (<a href="http://www.asrc.cuny.edu/2016/07/08/braunschweig-chen-join-nanoscience-initiative-team/" target="_blank">Miami to CUNY</a>)<br />
Brian Blagg (<a href="http://drugdiscovery.nd.edu/news/nd-day-2017-supporting-the-warren-family-research-center-for-drug-discovery-development/" target="_blank">Kansas to Notre Dame</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>five sources</i></span><br />
Gong Chen (<a href="http://chem.nankai.edu.cn/en/dt.aspx?n=A001514758" target="_blank">PSU to Nankai, 2016</a>)<br />
Qiang Cui (<a href="https://www.bu.edu/chemistry/2017/06/19/bu-chemistry-welcomes-its-newest-faculty-member-professor-qiang-cui-qc/" target="_blank">Wisconsin to Boston U</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, SJE!</i></span><br />
Mark Davis (<a href="http://dornsifelive.usc.edu/news/stories/2541/renowned-chemical-engineer-and-nanomedicine-pioneer-joining-usc" target="_blank">Caltech to USC</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Maxxie!</i></span><br />
Michael Fischbach (<a href="https://twitter.com/CarolynBertozzi/status/865374407996260352" target="_blank">UCSF to Stanford ChEM-H</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Carolyn!</i></span><br />
Nathan Gianneschi (<a href="http://www.iinano.org/blog/nathan-gianneschi-join-northwestern/" target="_blank">UCSD to Northwestern</a>)<br />
Karen Goldberg (<a href="https://www.chem.upenn.edu/people" target="_blank">Washington to Penn</a>)<br />
Jim Heath (<a href="https://www.systemsbiology.org/news/2017/04/03/institute-systems-biology-recruits-technology-pioneer-james-heath-president/" target="_blank">Caltech to ISB, admin</a>)<br />
Ryan Hili (UGA to <a href="http://chemistry.info.yorku.ca/ryan-hili/" target="_blank">York</a>)<br />
Yannis Kevrekidis (<a href="https://engineering.jhu.edu/chembe/new-faculty-arriving-july-1/#.WU5X6UYrKpq" target="_blank">Princeton to Johns Hopkins</a>)<br />
Laura Kiessling (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/professors-laura-l-kiessling-and-ronald-t-raines-join-department" target="_blank">Wisconsin to MIT</a>)<br />
Ken Knappenberger (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/directory/klk260" target="_blank">Florida State to PSU</a>)<br />
Kirill Kovnir (<a href="http://www.chem.iastate.edu/" target="_blank">Iowa State</a>)<br />
Chenglong Li (<a href="http://pharmacy.ufl.edu/faculty/chenglong-li/" target="_blank">OSU to Florida</a>)<br />
John MacMillan (<a href="http://www.chemistry.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php" target="_blank">UTSW to UCSC</a>)<br />
Christopher McCurdy (<a href="http://pharmacy.ufl.edu/faculty/christopher-mccurdy/" target="_blank">Mississippi to Florida</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Cunningham!</i></span><br />
Pere Miro (UNF to South Dakota) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Chemjobber!</i></span><br />
Randall Peterson (<a href="http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2016/08/Randy_Peterson_Pharmacy-Dean.php" target="_blank">Harvard MGH to Utah, admin</a>)<br />
Ronald Raines (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/professors-laura-l-kiessling-and-ronald-t-raines-join-department" target="_blank">Wisconsin to MIT</a>)<br />
Chris Scarborough (Emory to Syngenta)<br />
Kirk Schanze (<a href="http://www.utsa.edu/chem/faculty/KirkSchanze.html" target="_blank">Florida to UT-San Antonio</a>)<br />
Daniel Seidel (<a href="https://www.chem.ufl.edu/about/news/#Professor Seidel to join the UF Chemistry Department faculty" target="_blank">Rutgers to Florida</a>)<br />
James Skinner (<a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2016/12/12/james-l-skinner-appointed-director-water-research-initiative-ime" target="_blank">Wisconsin to Chicago</a>)<br />
Carlos Silva (<a href="https://www.chemistry.gatech.edu/people/Silva%20/Carlos" target="_blank">Montreal to Georgia Tech</a>)<br />
Stavroula Sofou (<a href="https://engineering.jhu.edu/chembe/new-faculty-arriving-july-1/#.WU5X6UYrKpq" target="_blank">Rutgers to Johns Hopkins</a>)<br />
Christine Thomas (Brandeis to <a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/news/big-welcome-our-new-department-faculty" target="_blank">Ohio State</a>)<br />
Greg Verdine (<a href="http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2016/04/13/with-latest-startup-harvards-verdine-again-aims-at-elusive-targets/" target="_blank">WaVe, WuXi Venture, Eleven, Fog</a>)<br />
Casey Wade (Brandeis to <a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/news/big-welcome-our-new-department-faculty" target="_blank">Ohio State</a>)<br />
Daniel Weix (<a href="https://www.chem.wisc.edu/users/weix" target="_blank">Rochester to Wisconsin</a>)<br />
Michael Wolfe (<a href="http://medchem.ku.edu/michael-s-wolfe" target="_blank">Harvard Med to Kansas</a>)<br />
Roy Wollman (<a href="http://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcoming-new-faculty-2" target="_blank">UCSD to UCLA</a>)<br />
Bill Wuest (<a href="https://twitter.com/wmwuest/status/836252900997410816" target="_blank">Temple to Emory</a>)<br />
Chengguo Xing (<a href="http://pharmacy.ufl.edu/faculty/chengguo-chris-xing/" target="_blank">Minnesota to Florida</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aaron Esser-Kahn (UCI to Chicago) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jen Heemstra (<a href="https://chem.utah.edu/directory/heemstra/" target="_blank">Utah</a> to Emory?) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rong Huang (VCU to Purdue?) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andreas Lendlein (<a href="https://www.bsrt.de/index.php?option=com_zooprofiles&task=userProfile&user=1193&Itemid=474" target="_blank">HZG</a> to Texas A+M?) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span></span><br />
Rob Paton (Oxford to Colorado State?) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Scott Phillips (<a href="http://www.psu.edu/dept/phillipsgroup/" target="_blank">PSU</a> to Boise State?) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Jennifer Prescher (UCI to Minnesota) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
J. Fraser Stoddart (NW to Texas A&M?) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>conflicting sources...</i></span><br />
David Walt (Tufts to HMS?) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Junrong Zheng (Rice to Peking?) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/chemistry/faculty-staff/our-faculty/schitnis.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yi2tEeno7ZM/WILxGgGIgVI/AAAAAAAAEvU/dL8A-sHdk_4MvWhbEOGyvhQ4q8Ffj4-qgCLcB/s400/Boat.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very unlikely method - too much H2O gets into the deuterium oxide...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b><u>New Hires</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>Samuel Awuah (<a href="http://lippardlab.mit.edu/news" target="_blank">Kentucky</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Lippard lab!</i></span><br />
Jean-Luc Ayitou (<a href="https://science.iit.edu/people/faculty/jean-luc-ayitou" target="_blank">Illinois Institute of Tech</a>)<br />
Jeff Bandar (<a href="http://www.chem.colostate.edu/people/jsbandar/" target="_blank">Colorado State</a>)<br />
Chris Barile (<a href="http://www.unr.edu/chemistry" target="_blank">UN-Reno</a>)<br />
Eszter Boros (<a href="http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/chemistry/faculty/Boros.Eszter.html" target="_blank">Stony Brook</a>)<br />
Carson Bruns (<a href="https://twitter.com/BrunsenBurner/status/867181317728817152/photo/1" target="_blank">CU Boulder</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Carson ?!?!</i></span><br />
Andrew Buller (<a href="https://www.chem.wisc.edu/content/andrew-buller-join-department-chemistry-assistant-professor" target="_blank">Wisconsin</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Chemjobber!</i></span><br />
Justin Caram (<a href="http://engelgroup.uchicago.edu/FormerGroupMembers.html" target="_blank">UCLA</a>)<br />
Carlos Carrero (<a href="http://www.ccarrerogroup.com/news/" target="_blank">Auburn</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources</i></span><br />
Matthew Chambers (<a href="http://www.lsu.edu/science/chemistry/people/Faculty/faculty.php#" target="_blank">LSU</a>)<br />
Craig Chapman (<a href="http://depts.washington.edu/ligroup/craig-chapman-joins-faculty-at-university-of-new-hampshire/" target="_blank">UNH</a>)<br />
Xi Chen (<a href="http://www.asrc.cuny.edu/2016/07/08/braunschweig-chen-join-nanoscience-initiative-team/" target="_blank">CUNY ASRC</a>)<br />
Saurabh Chitnis (<a href="https://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/chemistry/faculty-staff/our-faculty/schitnis.html" target="_blank">Dalhousie, 2018</a>)<br />
Christopher Dares (<a href="https://chemistry.fiu.edu/faculty/christopher-dares/" target="_blank">FIU</a>) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> two sources</span></i><br />
Laura Dassama (<a href="https://chemistry.stanford.edu/news/new-faculty-member-laura-dassama-join-chemistry-and-chem-h" target="_blank">Stanford Chem-H</a>)<br />
Eric Detsi (<a href="https://www.seas.upenn.edu/directory/profile.php?ID=214" target="_blank">UPenn</a>)<br />
Todd Doran (<a href="http://medchemumn.blogspot.com/2017/04/dr-todd-doran-joins-department-of.html" target="_blank">UMN</a>)<br />
Letian Dou (<a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/People/ptProfile?resource_id=169342" target="_blank">Purdue</a>)<br />
Elizabeth Elacqua (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/directory/eze31" target="_blank">PSU</a>)<br />
Noemie Elgrishi (<a href="http://www.lsu.edu/science/chemistry/people/Faculty/faculty.php#" target="_blank">LSU</a>)<br />
Shirin Faraji (<a href="http://iopenshell.usc.edu/" target="_blank">Gronigen</a>) <br />
Jeremy Feldblyum (<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/~jfeldbly/Publications.html" target="_blank">SUNY Albany</a>)<br />
Thomas Gianetti (<a href="http://cbc.arizona.edu/dr-thomas-gianetti-join-cbcua" target="_blank">Arizona</a>)<br />
Todd Gingrich (<a href="http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/about/news/" target="_blank">Northwestern</a>)<br />
Samer Gozem (<a href="http://iopenshell.usc.edu/" target="_blank">Georgia State</a>)<br />
Marie Heffern (<a href="http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/faculty/department_faculty/marie_heffern.html" target="_blank">UC Davis</a>)<br />
Christopher Hendon (<a href="https://around.uoregon.edu/content/computational-chemist-join-energy-and-materials-cluster?utm_source=ato02-22-17" target="_blank">Oregon</a>)<br />
Kristin Hutchins (<a href="https://twitter.com/MooreGroupUIUC/status/838841661472059396" target="_blank">Texas Tech</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Moore group!</i></span><br />
Enver Izgu (<a href="http://chem.rutgers.edu/prof-enver-cagri-izgu" target="_blank">Rutgers</a>)<br />
Meredith Jackrel (<a href="http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/people/primary-faculty/meredith-jackrel" target="_blank">WU St. Louis</a>)<br />
Carlos Jimenez-Hoyos (<a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/cjimenezhoyo/profile.html" target="_blank">Wesleyan</a>)<br />
Tim Johnstone (<a href="http://lippardlab.mit.edu/news" target="_blank">UCSC</a>)<br />
Matt Jones (<a href="http://chemistry.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=2147485468" target="_blank">Rice</a>)<br />
Evan Joslin (<a href="http://chemistry.sewanee.edu/facstaff/joslin.php" target="_blank">U of the South</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Masha Kamenetska (<a href="https://www.bu.edu/chemistry/2017/06/07/boston-universities-chemistry-and-physics-departments-welcome-one-of-our-newest-faculty-members-professor-masha-kamenetska/" target="_blank">Boston U</a>)<br />
Jessica Kramer (<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/~jrkramer/" target="_blank">Utah Bioengineering</a>)<br />
Jiwoong Lee (<a href="http://jiwoonglee1222.wixsite.com/leelab" target="_blank">Copenhagen</a>)<br />
Semin Lee (<a href="http://www.lsu.edu/science/chemistry/people/Faculty/divisions/Organic_Division.php" target="_blank">LSU</a>)<br />
Mark Lipke (<a href="http://chem.rutgers.edu/prof-mark-c-lipke" target="_blank">Rutgers</a>)<br />
Ashley Longstreet (Tampa) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
Justin Lopchuk (<a href="http://lopchuklab.com/" target="_blank">Moffitt</a>)<br />
Long Luo (<a href="http://chem.wayne.edu/luogroup/team.html" target="_blank">Wayne State</a>)<br />
Tomoyasu Mani (<a href="http://chemistry.uconn.edu/2016/10/06/new-faculty-2016/" target="_blank">UConn</a>)<br />
Megan Matthews (<a href="https://www.chem.upenn.edu/category/area-focus/chemical-biology" target="_blank">Penn</a>)<br />
Jamie Neely (<a href="https://twitter.com/pchirik/status/868540570767159298" target="_blank">Saint Louis U</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Paul!</i></span><br />
Andrew Nieuwkoop (<a href="http://chem.rutgers.edu/welcome-new-faculty-member-dr-andrew-nieuwkoop" target="_blank">Rutgers</a>)<br />
Michael Norris (<a href="http://chemistry.richmond.edu/faculty/mnorris/" target="_blank">Richmond</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Davit Potoyan (<a href="http://www.chem.iastate.edu/" target="_blank">Iowa State</a>)<br />
Eric Price (<a href="http://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/EPrice#/profile" target="_blank">Saskatchewan</a>)<br />
Rebecca Quardokus (<a href="http://chemistry.uconn.edu/2016/10/06/new-faculty-2016/" target="_blank">UConn</a>)<br />
Madalyn Radlauer (San Jose State) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>personal communication</i></span><br />
Maxwell Robb (Caltech)<br />
Andrew Roberts (<a href="https://chem.utah.edu/directory/roberts/index.php" target="_blank">Utah</a>)<br />
Jennifer Rupp (<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/new-engineering-faculty-1027" target="_blank">MIT</a>)<br />
Aaron Rury (Wayne State) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>from school Facebook page (?!?)</i></span><br />
Brett Savoie (<a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/people/ptProfile?resource_id=169347" target="_blank">Purdue ChemE</a>)<br />
Kimberly See (Caltech)<br />
Christo Sevov <a href="https://twitter.com/Sanford_Lab/status/833725511289417728" target="_blank">(Ohio State</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Sanford Lab!</i></span><br />
Benjamin Sherman (TCU) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
James Shepherd (<a href="https://chem.uiowa.edu/people/james-shepherd" target="_blank">Iowa</a>)<br />
Alexey Silakov (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/" target="_blank">Penn State</a>)<br />
Zachary Smith (<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/new-engineering-faculty-1027" target="_blank">MIT</a>)<br />
Alexander Sokolov (<a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/people/sokolov.0" target="_blank">Ohio State</a>)<br />
Jamie Spangler (<a href="https://engineering.jhu.edu/chembe/new-faculty-arriving-july-1/#.WU5X6UYrKpq" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins</a>)<br />
Mark Tibbitt (<a href="https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2016/09/nine-professors-appointed-at-eth-zurich.html" target="_blank">ETH</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Pratyush Tiwary (<a href="http://www.chem.umd.edu/news/theorist-interdisciplinary-scientist-pratyush-tiwary-joins-faculty" target="_blank">Maryland</a>)<br />
Emily Tsui (<a href="http://chemistry.nd.edu/news/new-faculty-member-emily-tsui/" target="_blank">Notre Dame</a>)<br />
Gael Ung (<a href="http://chemistry.uconn.edu/2016/10/06/new-faculty-2016/" target="_blank">UConn</a>)<br />
Alexandra Velian (<a href="http://depts.washington.edu/chem/people/faculty/velian.html" target="_blank">Washington</a>)<br />
Konstantinos Vogiatzis (<a href="https://www.chem.utk.edu/vogiatzis" target="_blank">Tennessee</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yiming Wang (Pitt) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>in department phone list</i></span></span><br />
Zachary Wickens (<a href="https://www.chem.wisc.edu/users/zwickens" target="_blank">Wisconsin</a>)<br />
Jingjie Wu (<a href="http://muchong.com/html/201704/11251725.html" target="_blank">Cincinnatti</a>)<br />
Han Xiao (<a href="http://chemistry.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=2147485468" target="_blank">Rice</a>)<br />
Xingchen Ye (<a href="http://xingye.chem.indiana.edu/" target="_blank">IUB</a>)<br />
Joseph Zadrozny (<a href="http://www.chem.colostate.edu/dr-joseph-zadrozny-to-join-faculty-in-august-2017/" target="_blank">Colorado State</a>)<br />
Julia Zaikina (<a href="http://www.chem.iastate.edu/" target="_blank">Iowa State</a>)<br />
Melissa Zastrow (<a href="http://lippardlab.mit.edu/news" target="_blank">Houston</a>)<br />
Jianyuan (Jason) Zhang (<a href="http://chem.rutgers.edu/prof-jianyuan-jason-zhang" target="_blank">Rutgers</a>)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
Jennifer Bridwell-Rabb (Michigan)<br />
Scott Hansen (Oregon)<br />
Dugan Hayes (URI)<br />
Scott Horowitz (<a href="http://www.ucdenver.edu/Calendar/MedicalSchool/Lists/Events/DispForm.aspx?ID=7982" target="_blank">UC-Denver</a>)<br />
Rashad Karimov (Auburn)<br />
Stephen Lopez (Northeastern)<br />
Lara Malins (ANU)<br />
Jarad Mason (<a href="http://chemistry.harvard.edu/event/jarad-mason" target="_blank">Harvard</a>)<br />
Jeff Mighion (Kent State)<br />
Jia Niu (Boston College)<br />
Sudeshna Roy (Ole Miss)<br />
Bess Vlaisavljevich (South Dakota)<br />
Ran Zhao (<a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/science/events/chemistry/6pibtbtj6bgg6ro94udpf321qc" target="_blank">Alberta</a>)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>--</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2016 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2016/02/chemistry-bumper-cars-2016-2017.html" target="_blank">click here</a></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2015-2016 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2015-2016.html">click here</a></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2014-2015 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2014/06/chemistry-bumper-cars-2014-2015.html">click here</a>.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2012-2013 moves, <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/03/26/academic-movement-and-hires-2012-2013/">click here</a>. </span></i>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com395tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-42275908356531247352016-12-03T19:23:00.000-05:002016-12-03T19:25:46.576-05:00Better Than Word of MouthHello, dear readers. It's been...a while. I promise the blog is not dead, just sleeping for now. My 2017 New Year's resolutions include sculpting specific time out for all the sci-writing goodness. Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
Enough maudlin overtures. Now, on to the fun!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.strem.com/" target="_blank">Strem</a> has, as any synthetic guru would attest, the highest-quality metal precursors in the biz.* Now, you could spend a weekend cracking ampoules to find out, or just open to the Supporting Information of one of Jeff Bode's recent publications in <i><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.orglett.6b01099" target="_blank">Org. Lett</a>. </i>Perhaps you remember this reaction - SnAP synthesis of saturated heterocycles - best from a cheeky Derek Lowe <a href="https://twitter.com/dereklowe/status/770177363137159168" target="_blank">tweet</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IBnDnxUmBEo/WENgU799QzI/AAAAAAAAEus/-Gy9ybDSMPIU7OGDIsTdNC6IyNYVL73CwCLcB/s1600/Derek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IBnDnxUmBEo/WENgU799QzI/AAAAAAAAEus/-Gy9ybDSMPIU7OGDIsTdNC6IyNYVL73CwCLcB/s1600/Derek.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
That's in reference to the stoichiometric incorporation of tin** in the reagent, which serves as a linchpin for the eventual transmetalation to a copper species and ring closure, neatly without disturbance of the <i>ipso </i>heteroatomic group.<br />
<br />
Well, much to my surprise, Prof. Bode has climbed on the <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2014/12/more-pictures-in-supporting-information.html" target="_blank">recent trend</a> of showing one's work through tactful inclusion of smartphone pics to buoy up procedure adoption. Especially with fussy transition metals, valency, contaminants, poor environment, and a whole host of other factors lead to catalyst poisoning and color changes. In the SnAP case, the litmus test seems to be formation of a correctly ligated Cu(II) ion in lutidine relative to the (probable)<a href="http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/transition/copper.html" target="_blank"> hexaaquo cuprate</a> species formed as a blue heterogeneous train wreck.<br />
<br />
The kicker? The fairly indiscreet preference for the Strem copper(II) precursor over all other suppliers. Look at the change! Night and day, and key to making these reactions work.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbN6dG2vQs4/WENex2PwjjI/AAAAAAAAEuk/mCKRpH39IsY9RszHF_U86EHL0fZ7eruRACLcB/s1600/Bode_SI_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbN6dG2vQs4/WENex2PwjjI/AAAAAAAAEuk/mCKRpH39IsY9RszHF_U86EHL0fZ7eruRACLcB/s640/Bode_SI_pic.jpg" width="578" /></a></div>
<br />
You couldn't buy better advertising than this....right, Strem?<br />
Bravo, Bode group! I look forward to seeing your colorful coupling chemistry in future reads.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Dear Strem: please send non-sequential $50 bills to See Arr Oh at Big City Company, USA</span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>**<b>Sn</b>AP. Get it? [drum kit]</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-72677472814784458882016-08-29T18:36:00.001-04:002016-08-29T18:36:07.434-04:00A Tale by MailLong-time readers will no doubt be aware of my <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2012/10/jeff-chemistry-historian.html">running affectation</a> with the "<a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-old-days-at-org-syn.html">Profiles</a>, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2012/06/art-antics.html">Pathways</a>, and Dreams" series of books from ACS; books which, had I not read them in grad school, would probably cause this blog to never exist.<br />
<br />
So I have a sneaky hobby: scouring the Internet's used book counter to assemble an entire set. Thus far, I've collected 17 of the 22 from the original 1990-1995 run. As I'm simultaneously trying for thrift, I'm proud to say the most I've paid for one of these books was around $25.<br />
<br />
One of the best came in the mail only today - a first-edition, basically mint copy of <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-lion-in-winter.html">Djerassi'</a>s <u>Steroids Made it Possible</u>. You know, the one with the picture of Nobelist R.B. Woodward going <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch-Out!!_(NES)">Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!</a> on another esteemed chemist?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FZZYZLQ0oJE/V8S1-NOYEOI/AAAAAAAAEsc/JzWrU2BrYvs5-bDs8FpqzisTjXwoiq42QCLcB/s1600/Woodward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="475" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FZZYZLQ0oJE/V8S1-NOYEOI/AAAAAAAAEsc/JzWrU2BrYvs5-bDs8FpqzisTjXwoiq42QCLcB/s640/Woodward.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u>Steroids Made it Possible</u>, ACS Books, p. 60</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I open the plastic packaging, breathe in the <a href="http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/06/01/newoldbooksmell/">old-book-paper smell.</a> But wait, there's no library markings. And the book is, what, 26 years old, and is basically undamaged? Curiously, I opened the cover, and realized that Djerassi himself had dedicated it:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wd4WDzJ7Atk/V8S2kk9YTpI/AAAAAAAAEsg/TmIDJDJyw6Q8gWe-HJ-RxNyXT4QCih7MACLcB/s1600/Signature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wd4WDzJ7Atk/V8S2kk9YTpI/AAAAAAAAEsg/TmIDJDJyw6Q8gWe-HJ-RxNyXT4QCih7MACLcB/s320/Signature.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
To whom, exactly? Why, to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8016871&privcapId=9345682">Larry Lehmkuhl,</a> the previous president of <a href="https://www.sjm.com/">St. Jude Medical</a>, according to Bloomberg. And is that really Carl's signature? I've compared it against two *for sale* on eBay and at Amazon - $89 euro and $39.85, as of this writing, respectively - it's the real McCoy.<br />
<br />
This, of course, raises more questions: Did Lehmkuhl ever read his gift? Was he from a chemistry background? (I can't find much about him through the usual channels).<br />
<br />
Did Djerassi mail out copies of his books, <i>en masse</i>, to anyone interested? If so, perhaps other signed treasures are out there, waiting to be found.See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-42767143001120411372016-08-21T08:07:00.000-04:002016-08-21T08:07:26.500-04:00ETC: Vonnegut, Djerassi, and a Mystery PolymerI've recently finished the 1973 novel <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_of_Champions">Breakfast of Champions</a></i>, by acclaimed science fiction / humor writer <a href="http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/about/">Kurt Vonnegut</a>. For those unfamiliar with Vonnegut's work, I enjoy drawing parallels* between him and "chemical provocateur" <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/us/carl-djerassi-dies-at-91-forever-altered-reproductive-practices-as-a-creator-of-the-pill.html?_r=0">Carl Djerassi</a>.<br />
<br />
These two men share some odd similarities: born within 13 months of one another, each man suffered the Second World War - Djerassi as a refugee; Vonnegut as a POW - and had their personal lives scarred by young, tragic deaths in their families. Nevertheless, both became prolific writers of <a href="http://www.djerassi.com/bio/bio1.html">short stories</a>, <a href="http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/about/vonneguts-writings/">novels</a>, and plays, and both lived to be elder statesmen in their chosen careers: Vonnegut to 85, and Djerassi to 91.<br />
<br />
I'd even wager that they looked somewhat alike, with their bushy mustaches, well-coiffed hair, stylish clothing and impish eyes:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeYleRwEEoU/V7mO93WCI-I/AAAAAAAAEr0/S1o7PNJDpy4L_8Cntgu4i8hCRJjAXLkQgCLcB/s1600/von.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeYleRwEEoU/V7mO93WCI-I/AAAAAAAAEr0/S1o7PNJDpy4L_8Cntgu4i8hCRJjAXLkQgCLcB/s1600/von.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Novelist Kurt Vonnegut<br />Credit: Enotes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0FS5hXbLaA/V7mPCUdqE3I/AAAAAAAAEr4/6AWjiER13NAtiDyso-iaRU59x8-DPmOowCLcB/s1600/Djer2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0FS5hXbLaA/V7mPCUdqE3I/AAAAAAAAEr4/6AWjiER13NAtiDyso-iaRU59x8-DPmOowCLcB/s200/Djer2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chemist and writer Carl Djerassi<br />Credit: DLD / Stanford</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><i>Breakfast of Champions </i>convinced me that Vonnegut may have had more than a passing fancy for chemistry, himself. Consider this hand-drawn rendering of a mystery plastic, ostensibly factory run-off that main character Kilgore Trout has unfortunately found stuck to his feet after wading through a river in Midland City, Michigan:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n4zl4t6Yt4U/V7mRNZcMeGI/AAAAAAAAEsE/otyPP1UtFfsy9vziW9015HhAvTyu3Sx6ACLcB/s1600/cyano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n4zl4t6Yt4U/V7mRNZcMeGI/AAAAAAAAEsE/otyPP1UtFfsy9vziW9015HhAvTyu3Sx6ACLcB/s640/cyano.jpg" width="453" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Kurt Vonnegut, <i>Breakfast of Champions</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Clearly, that's a <a href="http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Cyanoacrylate">cyanoacrylate co-polymer</a> - think Superglue - and it seems to be drawn with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrimer">dendrimeric</a> A-B-A architecture. I'm guessing that the ethylene glycol spacers (O-CH2-CH2-O) are meant to suggest the foaminess several characters encounter in the novel, that this mystery polymer is "..<i>.the stuff</i> <i>f***ing up Sacred Miracle Cave</i>...", an in-book tourist trap overrun by large, odorous brown bubbles.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, I love Vonnegut's inference for the continued polymer chain; where we chemists might write <i>n</i>, Vonnegut inserts his time-work "<b>ETC.</b>"<br />
<br />
Why? I'll let the author explain his philosophy:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>The man who taught me how to diagram a segment of a molecule of plastic was Professor <a href="http://chemistry.dartmouth.edu/dr-walter-h-stockmayer-1914-2004">Walter H. Stockmayer</a> of Dartmouth College. He is a distinguished physical chemist, and an amusing and useful friend of mine. I did not make him up. I would like to be Professor Walter H. Stockmayer. He is a brilliant pianist. He skis like a dream.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>And when he sketched a plausible molecule, he indicated points where it would go on and on just as I have indicated them - with an abbreviation that means sameness without end.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The proper ending for and story about people it seems to me, since life is now a polymer in which the Earth is wrapped so tightly, should be that same abbreviation . . .it is in order to acknowledge the continuity of that polymer that I begin so many sentences with 'And' and 'So,' and end so many paragraphs with '...and so on.' </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>And so on. 'It's all like an ocean!' cried Dostoevski. I say it's all like cellophane."</i></blockquote>
Sometimes you encounter (surprisingly accurate) chemistry in places you didn't expect.<br />
So it goes.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Bonus: Here's Roald Hoffman interviewing <a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/forced-to-choose/99999">both authors</a> in a 1999 piece for American Scientist magazine</span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-74621739878637087882016-08-01T22:03:00.002-04:002016-08-01T22:03:48.619-04:00Enthusiasm Goes a Long WayEarlier today, I watched a scientific speaker drive people out of the seminar room.<br />
<br />
Was the person combative? Not at all; a well-respected mid-career chemist at a Top-5 school.<br />
Unprepared? Nope; knew the slides backward and forwards.<br />
Bad material? It was the linchpin talk of the session, so...no.<br />
Perhaps haughty, egotistical, or rude? Still no - a model in professional conduct.<br />
<br />
The talk was just, in a word...<b>boring</b>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHIYHg0FpYg/V5_8zgtW6bI/AAAAAAAAEq8/xf-WRafvcDAaKoaWFmGEjrKDPWVd5SRowCLcB/s1600/audience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHIYHg0FpYg/V5_8zgtW6bI/AAAAAAAAEq8/xf-WRafvcDAaKoaWFmGEjrKDPWVd5SRowCLcB/s320/audience.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/growing/master-the-art-of-public-speaking-20141017-117qsr.html">Source</a>: Sydney Morning Herald</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
However exciting the science, you can't capture the audience if the delivery is dull as dishwater. Literally dozens of <a href="http://www.nextscientist.com/improve-presentation-skills-of-phd-students/">posts</a>, <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2016/02/10/a-david-letterman-like-countdown-to-the-10-biggest-pitfalls-in-scientific-presentations/">listicles</a>, humor <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/twominds/2008/03/12/how-to-give-a-bad-science-pres/">attempts</a>, even entire <b>blogs</b> (<a href="http://www.howtogiveatalk.com/">here</a>, <a href="http://scientific-presentations.com/">here</a>) have been dedicated to the practice of scientific communication. So why don't these suggestions permeate into the wider community? Why do smart people not consider how their message comes across?<br />
<br />
I won't go into the particulars of the talk I saw overmuch. Suffice to say that slumped shoulders, wooden expression, monotone delivery, and stiff arms will have your audience reaching for their smartphones in no time. Ditto: wordy slides, insider jargon, and attempts to somehow mash a 50-minute talk into a 30 minute time slot.<br />
<br />
One wonders if, after a certain number of conferences, chemists have become inured to terrible talks. Perhaps we should consider installing a "canary" in the lecture hall "coalmine" - a speaking coach or senior faculty member, placed front and center, that can debrief the overall performance after the session, offer pointers, maybe even solicit feedback from the audience.<br />
<br />
Optionally, what about Improv? Many fields - business consultants, customer service, construction, education - have benefited from comedy troupes teaching teams to think on their feet. Anyone have something like that occurring at their lab or university?<br />
<br />
I'm not arguing that scientific talks be misconstrued as entertainment, yet I feel I could have learned more if I were actively on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear the next assay result or to see the next structure proof.<br />
<br />
Anyone else agree?See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-5105408949268530922016-07-29T18:07:00.000-04:002016-07-29T18:07:15.558-04:00Synthetic Endgame<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Inspired by <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7593/pdf/nature16957.pdf">this paper</a> from Melanie Sanford's rocking <a href="http://www.umich.edu/~mssgroup/pub.html">organometallic group</a> at Michigan.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Pun contest! I could also have called this post...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gotta Make 'Em All</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Poke-Ball and Stick Models</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Chantix Charmander</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Putting the Fun in C-H <b>FUN</b>ctionalization</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">'All Thumbs' Synthesis</span></div>
<br />See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-40401068228360111412016-07-29T09:34:00.001-04:002016-07-29T09:34:26.389-04:00Friday Fun: Semi-Legal Starting MaterialsI ran across this entertaining anecdote today while researching Lord Todd's research into <a href="http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/vitamin-b1-thiamine">vitamin B1</a>.<br />
<br />
From Todd's 1997 <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-lord-todd-1283405.html">obituary</a> in the <i>Independent, </i>written by fellow Nobelist "Kappa" <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1975/cornforth-facts.html">Cornforth</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: 'Indy Serif'; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">[Todd] also worked on cannabis, and in his excellent autobiography <u>A Time to Remember</u> (1983) he tells with relish the story that, having naively imported 6 lb of distilled cannabis resin donated by the Indian police, he had to promise Customs that he would send 25 copies of any ensuing paper to their Bureau of Drugs and Indecent Publications."</span></blockquote>
Apparently, the "ask forgiveness, not permission" dictum applied in mid-1930s London. It bears reminding that this same choice, made today, would result the appearance of severe gentlemen in dark suits with thick briefcases and Summons in hand at the lab entrance...<br />
<br />
Happy Friday,<br />
<i>See Arr Oh</i>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-63866251964746466112016-07-17T09:33:00.004-04:002016-07-17T09:49:58.691-04:00Undergrad Tech: Remember When?Recently, I sat with a friend sipping coffee, watching passers-by hurriedly moving from one tall building to another. Remarks drifted back towards research - as they're wont to do when chatting with chemists - and she said: "Remember how hard it was just to order things?"<br />
<br />
I knew exactly what she meant. Lab tech changes quickly, and you may not even notice until you take a step away from the bench. I'm not part of the generation who spent hours <a href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i27/Happy-Birthday-ChemDraw.html">sketching molecules by hand</a> from a rubber template pre-ChemDraw, but nor am I a grad student in the era of tablet computers that can access <a href="http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do">PDB</a> or Aldrich from a free wireless connection in any lecture hall.<br />
<br />
Maybe I'll take a quick stroll down memory lane to see how different things really were when I first started undergraduate research...<br />
<br />
<b>Planning</b>: Then, as now, most projects kicked off using pen-and-paper or chalkboard sessions; whiteboards were in about 30% of classrooms and gaining ground, but my first experiences with drawing molecules for my coworkers covered my fingers in tacky powder. I can still smell lab chalk: musty, earthy, sometimes tinged with a faint amine odor if stored too near the reagents cabinet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xj__IDy2rdg/V4uC6IKy4wI/AAAAAAAAEpg/04A51mtoFG4DtS-9FOPJ3SBziQah5sTjACLcB/s1600/LSD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xj__IDy2rdg/V4uC6IKy4wI/AAAAAAAAEpg/04A51mtoFG4DtS-9FOPJ3SBziQah5sTjACLcB/s320/LSD.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy of Dr. Freddy, at <a href="http://syntheticremarks.com/?p=2324">Synthetic Remarks</a>, who seems to recall<br />
chalkboards much more fondly than I.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Once you'd had the discussion, you transcribed it into a lab notebook - usually bound with black vinyl, perhaps featuring brown or maroon faux-leather accents and a bookmark string - and signed the page. Then it was time to dive into the literature. First, you staked out some territory at one of the few hulking beige monitors attached to your shared lab computers. Plan for coffee, since reboots and blue-screen crashes could usually be expected to last 10 minutes, with accompanying Windows jingles or goofy Mac cursor wheels.<br />
<br />
(Why were operating systems always a generation behind on shared computers?)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxFQYvg5_Vg/V4uD8djorPI/AAAAAAAAEpw/X3fzuT8bV7Mz-BIE5EfKxlpslbq_uqhjwCLcB/s1600/Win95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxFQYvg5_Vg/V4uD8djorPI/AAAAAAAAEpw/X3fzuT8bV7Mz-BIE5EfKxlpslbq_uqhjwCLcB/s320/Win95.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your 10-minute excuse to go grab a coffee.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Beilstein and SciFinder both offered installed systems with single-user seats. This meant you walked down your lab hallway, shouting "<i>Does anyone need anything on SciFinder?</i>" before logging in. The user interfaces were very Internet 1.0 - muted grey windows, inscrutable black text, fuzzy structures. Mostly, you would up transcribing the reference into your notebook alongside the idea. To get the paper, you usually brought a stack of dimes down to the reference library, and spent the next 20 minutes finding and then copying (don't forget to rotate every other page!) the journal article. The still-warm, toner-scented stapled copies were lugged back to your wooden desk to be pored over until evening. My fingers would often be tinged with more than one color of highlighter or colored pen after a night of intense study.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G3u3T1f4_Cg/V4uEZYtAcpI/AAAAAAAAEp4/DfJHKMDMA9UNBuhot_qmLqQGBL9u_9qqwCLcB/s1600/STRU3.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G3u3T1f4_Cg/V4uEZYtAcpI/AAAAAAAAEp4/DfJHKMDMA9UNBuhot_qmLqQGBL9u_9qqwCLcB/s400/STRU3.GIF" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SciFinder Scholar, 1999. Source: ISTL.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Synthesis</b>: OK, you know what you want to make, so you need some reagents. Maybe first you glanced through the 2,000-row Excel file your lab has as its <i>de facto</i> "inventory" system. I remember some groups also had a dog-eared, yellowing notebook dangling from a rope of masking tape that listed all the chemicals no one needed any longer - hope you enjoy distillation! Failing these approaches, the trusty catalogs are all lined up against the single lab window, effectively blocking out 20% of the available visual real estate. Names of vendors I remember included Fisher, VWR, Aldrich, Sigma, TCI, and Columbia. Each one had different account reps, pricing, and delivery specs; you'd better believe your boss would ask if you <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2007/01/02/the-new-aldrich-catalog-is-almost-here/">looked up pricey, boutique reagents</a> in more than one source. Someone had the lab job of calling these vendors every few days, providing the lab P.O. number or group credit card, and then taking delivery later that week. Collections of cardboard boxes large and small would be piled near the front door, and every week was Christmas (even if it was just your reagent-grade TEA).<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BCIRfNqIGY/V4uDJt3XRJI/AAAAAAAAEpk/UTMk5MxyCMsY5XrcvkA7l6k_u-Z2RG7gACLcB/s1600/Aldrich_1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BCIRfNqIGY/V4uDJt3XRJI/AAAAAAAAEpk/UTMk5MxyCMsY5XrcvkA7l6k_u-Z2RG7gACLcB/s1600/Aldrich_1997.jpg" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hpRKh2XNVUU/V4uDRQZehqI/AAAAAAAAEpo/33UHrpj1tHoBozcdJj15FotIt8iHkyNTACLcB/s1600/wright%2Bcatalog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hpRKh2XNVUU/V4uDRQZehqI/AAAAAAAAEpo/33UHrpj1tHoBozcdJj15FotIt8iHkyNTACLcB/s320/wright%2Bcatalog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The first and last physical Aldrich catalogs I remember ordering from.<br />
Source: Alfred Bader, Sigma-Aldrich</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At some point, you'd have everything needed to run your experiment. Hours passed, <a href="http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2010/August/ColumnInpipeline.asp">TLCs ran</a>, and you scribbled long-hand in that same lined lab notebook. I'm fairly certain I spent thousands of hours hunched over, detailing exactly how the workup went, or scrawling single-line corrections (with initials!) for changes and errors.<br />
<br />
<b>Analysis</b>: Instruments fell largely into two camps - things you ran and printed out to later affix into 3-ring binders, or numbers on an LED screen you hastily scribbled onto a Post-it note. UV-Vis and optical rotation fell into this latter camp; I still smile whenever I see a forgotten, tucked-away bookmark reading "+8.75 deg."<br />
<br />
I worked in lab right at the death knell of chart-recorders - little red pens in threaded holders that traced a curve based on numeric readouts from an IR or GC. NMR, graciously, always emerged on an ink-jet printer in the corner of a sub-level lab. I was a Bruker shim-jockey for quite a while, bragging that I could shim, acquire, FT, pick, and integrate an 8-scan 1H in under 2 minutes. Of course, many academic labs now have robotic cherry-pickers and automatic data transfer, which must save tons of time (unless you're a biophysicist or monitor kinetics; we might as well chain you to the 600MHz).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gIYEw9N0Tgk/V4uFP1fAViI/AAAAAAAAEqI/VGfJRP3X-joFr0uUCrMnqr4feVlacd8KgCLcB/s1600/Shims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gIYEw9N0Tgk/V4uFP1fAViI/AAAAAAAAEqI/VGfJRP3X-joFr0uUCrMnqr4feVlacd8KgCLcB/s320/Shims.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Cal State LA / Bruker Instruments</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Presentation</b>: My first lab group still owned an overhead transparency viewer, and we were encouraged to print or sketch acetate slides each week for discussion. As these smudged easily when warm or done hastily, there were many grumblings and thrown elbows at the photocopier from fellow labmates on group meeting day. PowerPoint was reserved for "big" talks - oral exams, defense seminars, or preparing a poster for ACS meetings. Once saved and laid out the way you wanted, these were burned onto a CD-R or stored on a 100MB USB flash drive your boss might loan you. The walk to FedEx felt tense, because you didn't want to lose this uncomfortable piece of plastic, which contained the only copy of your slides.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0cCAWF1yyNA/V4uFh1tYcuI/AAAAAAAAEqM/os0W1mT82Gc-u-Ttpx_SoUF2FaL_fZtGQCLcB/s1600/OHP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0cCAWF1yyNA/V4uFh1tYcuI/AAAAAAAAEqM/os0W1mT82Gc-u-Ttpx_SoUF2FaL_fZtGQCLcB/s320/OHP.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just don't write on the glass itself, or the PI will get really angry. Trust me.<br />
Source: Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I'm sure that I'm missing more fun events from lab life and technology from the late 20th century. Readers, if you have a special memory from back in the day, please feel free to share it in the comments. I'll update the post if I've missed something vital.<br />
<br />See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-17595742983748145972016-07-09T18:24:00.001-04:002016-07-22T19:08:44.095-04:00Big Fish, New Ponds?Have you kept your ear to the ground? Felt something on the breeze? Getting a "gut feeling"?<br />
<br />
The most recent edition of <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2016/02/chemistry-bumper-cars-2016-2017.html">Chemistry Bumper Cars</a> - Faculty Moves, for the uninitiated - leans towards bigger deals and dramatic poaches as the Fall term looms over the Summer horizon. Here's the latest I've heard about, with my own opinion about whether the rumor holds water.<br />
<br />
<b>Dave MacMillan to leave Princeton, for...?</b><br />
<i>Odds: Low</i><br />
<br />
I hear what you're saying: MacMillan has already moved twice (Berkeley -> Caltech -> Princeton), and we're talking about a researcher who averages an <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/chemistry/macmillan/david-macmillan/">award every year</a> and a new named professorship every four. However, he's fairly well settled into a tight relationship with Merck, who are local to NJ. He's also helped propel Princeton back up in the rankings over the past decade. I can think of only <a href="http://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/faculty-lecturers/faculty?page=1">one university</a> that sounds like any kind of a step up, and they have plenty of organic power at the moment.<br />
<br />
<b>Dirk Trauner to NYU</b><br />
<i>Odds: Medium</i><br />
<br />
Though I've heard this more than once, I'm scratching my head about how it makes sense for Trauner. Part of his motivation in returning to LMU was to continue the Mulzer mystique: the powerhouse European <a href="http://www.cup.uni-muenchen.de/oc/trauner/group/dirktrauner">natural products group</a> that makes densely-functionalized products appear as if by magic. Then again, NYU seems to be <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/03/26/academic-movement-and-hires-2012-2013/">aggressively searching</a> for a certain kind of chemist; maybe Dirk is slated to be the new <a href="https://www.scripps.edu/baran/html/publications.html">Phil Baran</a> of the East Coast?*<br />
<br />
<u>Update</u>: As seen in the comments, Dirk himself confirms. My gracious thanks to the Professor.<br />
<br />
<b>Tom Rovis to Columbia</b><br />
<i>Odds: Certain</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Signed, sealed, and <a href="http://chem.columbia.edu/news/columbia-chemistry-welcomes-tom-rovis-to-the-faculty/">delivered</a> to Columbia back in the Spring.<br />
<br />
<b>Dave Liu to Broad from Harvard</b><br />
<i>Odds: Low</i><br />
<br />
First he was an undergraduate wunderkind with Corey, now one of the youngest Full Professors and an HHMI scholar, <a href="http://evolve.harvard.edu/">all before age 40</a>. He's already a <a href="http://www.broadinstitute.org/news/8385">core faculty member </a>with Broad while managing his Harvard group, and I see no reason for Harvard (or for Liu) to wish to terminate his current position. This may sound like wild speculation or stargazing, but I fully suspect Liu's name goes on a nomination for a Big Prize within ~5 yrs, and I think Harvard would do everything they could to keep him in the fold for that day.<br />
<br />
<u>Update</u>: As noted in the comments, does appear Liu will have to be physically present on the Broad's campus.<br />
<br />
<b>Karen Goldberg to leave U. Washington</b><br />
<i>Odds: Low</i><br />
<br />
I very much want to believe, especially since UW lost Jim Mayer a few years back, that they can retain Goldberg, a C-H activation and <a href="http://depts.washington.edu/chem/people/faculty/goldberg.html">general OM superstar</a>. She boasts a local Center and a named professorship, as well as a <a href="http://pluto.chem.washington.edu/directory/faculty.aspx">Department</a> with plenty of talented young blood: Boydston, Bush, Cossairt, Fu, Lalic, Schlenker, Theberge, Zalatan, all hired in just the last 6 years, doubtless some drawn there through her influence. I'm sure she'd succeed at a Caltech or an MIT, but I really don't know enough about her motivations to say any more conclusively.<br />
<br />
<b>Greg Verdine leaves Harvard to run companies full-time </b><br />
<i>Odds: High</i><br />
<br />
It's said you can throw a rock in Cambridge these days and hit a VC. Seeing how much apparent fun and success Verdine has had with his <a href="http://hscrb.harvard.edu/people/gregory-verdine">previous ventures</a> into the private sector, I'm betting he continues this line full-time and slowly winds down managing theses and group meetings.<br />
<br />
--<br />
*<span style="font-size: x-small;">Today's ridiculous statistic: In the past 20 years, Baran and Trauner have authored a combined 372 research papers. That's 2-3 entire careers, and these are guys with 20+ years ahead of them. Damn.</span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com376tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-70882173059739398492016-07-05T22:42:00.004-04:002016-07-05T22:48:03.742-04:00Sudden TamifluHey there, JLC fans! Long time, no post.<br />
<br />
Today's inspiration comes from a molecule I've enjoyed watching the synthetic, process, and educational chemistry communities go to town on for the past 18 years: <b>(-)-oseltamivir,</b> also known by the trade name <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja963036t">Tamiflu</a>. See that cyclohexene in the middle? This molecule mimics the transition state of a mostly-flat oxonium cation derived from sialic acid, so well that it <a href="http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/tamiflu/how_work.htm">interrupts the flu virus's ability</a> to release further infectious particles, allowing the body to "catch up" and reduce overall time spent hovered over a steaming bowl of <a href="http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/treating-flu-at-home">chicken noodle soup</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vmc6bstkqvk/V3xhxd2-5mI/AAAAAAAAEpI/oEH_Y-3MAlk4V17zFo-4hTB-ON1AGGwHACLcB/s1600/Tamiflu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vmc6bstkqvk/V3xhxd2-5mI/AAAAAAAAEpI/oEH_Y-3MAlk4V17zFo-4hTB-ON1AGGwHACLcB/s1600/Tamiflu.jpg" /></a>But enough about the <i>Why</i>, let's get to the <i>How; </i>as the authors of this paper pitch in their opening line: <b>Time is Money!</b><br />
<br />
Hayashi and Ogasawara, no strangers to Tamiflu themselves (syntheses in 2009, 2010, and 2013), report in <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.orglett.6b01595"><i>Org. Lett.</i> <i>ASAP</i></a> a synthetic economy we don't always consider: time. They claim a one-pot Tamiflu synthesis, five steps, average step yield around 70%...finished in <u>just 1 hour.</u>*<br />
<br />
Compare that against the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201302371/abstract">benchmark</a> of the previous 1-pot reaction - <i>57 hours</i>. Wow!<br />
<br />
Several interesting modifications to their previous syntheses have enabled this savings. First, addition of a hydrogen-bond donor catalyst to a nitro-Michael addition, which accelerates the reaction 3x. Second, swap of a base in an HWE reaction: 3.5 hours in cesium carbonate becomes 20 mins in tBuOK. Finally, a sacrificial move - rapid epimerization of the penultimate nitrohexene, knowing that only 50% of the product will successfully reduce to the desired diastereomer.** A short silica column completes the rapid realization of this antiviral drug.<br />
<br />
Lest you believe that I'm <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hornswoggle">hornswoggled</a> by a synthetic sprint, a quick glance at the Supporting Info*** provides a cold shower. There's some lingering impurities in those 1H NMRs, enough to make me believe that the yield, even at gram-scale, isn't really 16%. And the reagent equivalencies used to drive these nitro-boosters aren't pretty: 30 parts Zn, 3 parts phosphonate, 15 aliquots of TMSCl. To touch upon an allusion the authors themselves make - perhaps a <a href="http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/7144171/Continuous-Flow_Synthesis_of_Ibuprofen.html">Jamison-style flow reactor</a> is the next logical step for this speed-demon of a route.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*As I wrote this line, I couldn't stop comparing this to other "just 1 hour!" claims from consumer products: teeth whitening, photo development, tax preparation, LensCrafters, oil changes, and pizza delivery can all refer to the 2016 Hayashi Tamiflu synthesis as a spiritual brother of sorts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">**I don't believe that there's a spontaneous kinetic resolution here, but if any sharp-eyed reader can prove differently, I'm all ears.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">***Counter-counterpoint: The one-pot is so streamlined that it now takes only 281 words to synthesize Tamiflu. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Damn.</span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-89481730659431552632016-05-06T17:46:00.002-04:002016-05-06T17:46:23.297-04:00Postdoc Required? Check the Job Ads!<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Both the <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/science/phd-post-doc-positions-study.html?_r=0">New York Times</a> </i>and <i><a href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i19/Thinking-ahead-graduate-school.html">C&EN</a> </i>have written pithy pieces today referencing the recent <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6286/663"><i>Science </i>survey</a> about factors influencing postdoctoral study. </div>
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The tone of all three comes across as confused, painting Ph.D. students as ill-informed, directionless lambs who take on postdoctoral appointments as, in the words of the <i>Science </i>authors, "default...holding patterns" because they "...don't know what they want to do with their lives." (<i>NYT</i>).</div>
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Well, for those of us, like me, who postdoc'd with the intention of going into industry, why did I "waste my time in a post-doc" (<i>Science</i>) for seemingly no reason? Here's some telling quotes, highlighting from me:</div>
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From <i>Science</i>: <i>"...career goals are quite diverse even among these postdoc-planning students...[t]his may be surprising, given that the postdoc is <b>not typically considered a stepping-stone toward nonacademic careers</b>"</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">C&EN</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">: "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 25px;"><i>Many students don’t have a sense of how many jobs are available or what background they require, Doyle says. <b>Chemistry students think they need a postdoc for some high-level industry jobs</b> in the pharmaceutical industry, for example."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">NYT</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">: </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">"[in 2013]...the most common reason students gave for doing a postdoc was that they <b>thought it would increase the chances</b> <b>of getting the job </b>they wanted."</i></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;">These sound bites sound aloof at best, slightly pandering </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 27px;">at worst</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 27px;">. Here's my question: Did anyone quoted for this story, or the authors of the </span><i style="line-height: 27px;">Science</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 27px;"> study themselves, actually </span><b style="line-height: 27px;"><u>read the job ads</u></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 27px;"> for the industrial positions in question? Maybe students' fears are well-justified, because the ads I'm seeing from multiple companies read like this:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.gsk.com/en-gb/careers/search-jobs-and-apply/" style="line-height: 27px;">GSK</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;">, API Chemistry Automation Team Member</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EQ5ciXJvpg/Vy0FKnGacOI/AAAAAAAAEoA/gAQtTSg9_koMbHjCHcR40Aen3DlU8rFxACLcB/s1600/GSK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EQ5ciXJvpg/Vy0FKnGacOI/AAAAAAAAEoA/gAQtTSg9_koMbHjCHcR40Aen3DlU8rFxACLcB/s640/GSK.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pfizer, Sr. Scientist - Obesity + Eating Disorders</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fn0wFx2RDGU/Vy0Fkgv609I/AAAAAAAAEoE/xIMMvZjuLbUhcVWPgufLupV4EZmXnCQwgCLcB/s1600/Pfizer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fn0wFx2RDGU/Vy0Fkgv609I/AAAAAAAAEoE/xIMMvZjuLbUhcVWPgufLupV4EZmXnCQwgCLcB/s640/Pfizer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://careers.amgen.com/job-en/5974423/scientist-immuno-oncology-south-san-francisco-ca/">Amgen</a>, Scientist, Immuno-Oncology</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QlZmfKBa58I/Vy0F8UoQm2I/AAAAAAAAEoM/Ooc8qFXOx9sLlQB-AHoMBbLchc_I1nc9QCLcB/s1600/Amgen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QlZmfKBa58I/Vy0F8UoQm2I/AAAAAAAAEoM/Ooc8qFXOx9sLlQB-AHoMBbLchc_I1nc9QCLcB/s1600/Amgen.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.gene.com/careers/detail/00446799/Senior-Scientific-Researcher-Discovery-Ophthalmology-Genentech-Research" style="line-height: 27px;">Genentech</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;">, Sr Scientific Researcher, Discovery Ophthamology</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hd7MDY78N1Y/Vy0HWvDpdYI/AAAAAAAAEoc/1-0WPxeR4EQ3j9LbW6jrJ4fkS_NDX_nIQCLcB/s1600/Genentech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hd7MDY78N1Y/Vy0HWvDpdYI/AAAAAAAAEoc/1-0WPxeR4EQ3j9LbW6jrJ4fkS_NDX_nIQCLcB/s640/Genentech.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;">In case you missed it, all recommend postdoctoral research. I didn't have to go digging for these, either - simply typing "chemistry" along with "postdoctoral" or "post-doc" into the Career search engine on any corporate site will reveal roles like these. </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;">I find it rather ironic that the last quote from the <i>Science</i> lead author reads: "</span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;">We don’t know enough about the industry labor market” </i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;">(</span></span><i style="line-height: 27px;">C&EN </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 27px;">write-up). </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;">That seems to be the only part of this whole situation I completely agree with. </span></span></div>
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OK, grumpiness aside, how can this situation be fixed? I actually appreciate the incentive strategy advanced in the paper, which neither news outlet captured well. Here's most of the penultimate paragraph from <i>Science</i>, highlighting again mine:</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;"><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="color: #333333;">"Whereas the recent National Academies report recommends that students make career plans early in the Ph.D. program, we argue that they should <b>consider labor market conditions and career options before starting a Ph.D. program</b>. Doing so may avoid escalating commitment to a research career and may prevent individuals from entering a postdoc holding pattern. Graduate schools could encourage career planning by <b>requiring that applicants analyze different career options and justify why a Ph.D. is the most promising path forward</b>. Funding agencies could implement similar requirements, especially in conjunction with moving a larger share of funding from research grants to<b> training grants and individual fellowships</b>."</i></blockquote>
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Amen. One thing I believe saved me from five years of postdoc purgatory was walking in "eyes open," understanding exactly what jobs I'd qualify for and where I needed to end up to pay back all my student loans. I also realized it would be no cakewalk: I began applying for jobs in my second year of study, and never looked back. </div>
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Grad students: If you're confused about your options, feel free to drop me an email at seearroh_AT_gmail. Confidentiality guaranteed.</div>
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See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-19978935091431355772016-05-05T22:40:00.003-04:002016-05-06T12:48:07.247-04:00Two Billion Compounds?I've been cracking my skull against a peculiar problem this week:<br />
How many unique <strike>molecules</strike> compounds have ever been made?*<br />
<br />
I'm referring to those produced by humankind, over the past 250 years - give or take a decade - of formal chemistry effort. CAS claims <a href="https://www.cas.org/news/media-releases/100-millionth-substance">100 million molecules</a> in their collection, and predict, at the current rate of registration, another 650 million over the next <i style="font-weight: bold;">50 years</i>.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C4hwv7kujBA/Vyv80HZ0BnI/AAAAAAAAEno/2HieTHoiCAoYwho72yMYmCSm7H5kjwAUQCLcB/s1600/berries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C4hwv7kujBA/Vyv80HZ0BnI/AAAAAAAAEno/2HieTHoiCAoYwho72yMYmCSm7H5kjwAUQCLcB/s320/berries.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berries by the side of the road, 2016.<br />
Not counted in billions.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Certainly other databases exist, a well-curated larger example being <a href="http://www.chemspider.com/">ChemSpider</a> (34 million), but I'm sure the Venn diagram for that against CAS overlaps quite a bit. Ditto PubChem, which according to <a href="http://www.chemconnector.com/">ChemConnector</a> had over 37 million structures in 2009, but lots of errors, duplicates, and isotopomers, to <a href="http://www.chemspider.com/blog/stop-counting-the-number-of-chemical-entities-in-public-compound-databases-and-there-are-ghosts-in-the-closet.html">hear him tell it</a>. Outside the med-chem arena, there are exciting new collections such as the Aspuru-Guzik lab's <a href="http://www.molecularspace.org/">Clean Energy Project</a>, to identify photovoltaic materials. Surely the assembled collection of privately-held corporate data from all chemistry, pharma, biotech, and engineering firms must include another windfall; ~200 million compounds?<br />
<br />
So, let's try a thought exercise - say we limit the set of what we call "made," or synthesized. We won't consider polymers, whether natural (DNA, polysaccharides) or artificial (Teflon, urethanes). Screening collections, libraries, and combinatorics; unless someone produced >1 mg, I'm leaving it out. Metal complexes and salts are <b>in</b>, since most of the time inorganic and formulations colleagues still produce quantities you can hold and measure (and get a melting point on!).<br />
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Granted, by referring explicitly to the public and private chemistry databases, I'm not including <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/computer-gleans-chemical-insight-from-lab-notebook-failures-1.19866">dark reactions</a>, those failed experiments or perhaps non-optimal yields that never make it to publication. Based on my lab career (and that of my hood-mates), I'd say there's a comfortable 5-10 molecules made for every 1 that gets reported somewhere. Of course, since many of those are literature preps or repeat reactions, I don't think it inflates the count that much; truly, novel molecules tend to creep into papers and patents somehow.<br />
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Chemical space gurus, I apologize - I only want to count things that have been bottled, columned, purified, and analyzed. Large computational <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/03/chemical-space-explorers.html">data sets of billions</a> - unless they've been made and characterized - aren't up for consideration. Neither are metabolites isolated from plants or microbes; no fair counting what we relied on other organisms to make. S'posing this means we also leave out decomposition products and geological materials.<br />
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So them's <b>the rules</b>: 1 mg produced and characterized, non-polymeric, must have been made or produced with human hands. Salts and metals are in, along with isotopomers and stereoisomers.<br />
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What do readers and commenters think? My guess is in the title of this post.<br />
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*<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On the Twitter, Peter Kenny points out that I should, in truth, be asking after compounds, not molecules. Fair enough.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>** Another reader points out that <a href="http://zinc.docking.org/">ZINC15</a>, the database of "stuff you can buy now," only includes ~10M at present.</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-14826536534654409562016-05-01T20:57:00.001-04:002016-05-01T20:57:21.850-04:00X-Files' Freezing Catalyst: Digging DeeperA random Friday afternoon link at <a href="http://chemjobber.blogspot.com/2016/04/ptfe-lid-liners.html">Chemjobber's place</a> clued me into <a href="https://unemployedchemist.com/2016/04/07/nmr-on-the-x-files/">Mitch's post</a>, about a random NMR encountered in an old episode of '90s sci-fi classic <i>The X-Files</i>. By some odd coincidence I, too, was watching the episode sometime in early April, though I didn't get my notes and pictures together in time. Alas.<br />
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(Before we get too hung up on the episode's premise - that in 1996 computational chemists at MIT were performing <i>in silico</i> calculations on a "catalyst" intended for rapid body freezing - let's also remember that this episode shows us protagonist Lisa, a wunderkind doctor / chemist / radiologist, strutting out of her lab <i>sans</i> questioning after her patient spontaneously <i>combusts!</i>)<br />
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Now, to the structure of "Compound X" - I took a close-up of the computer terminal Lisa's working on, right around 17:00. Yes, folks, that's 1,2-dichloro-1,1,2,2-tetra<b>helio</b>-ethane. Carbon-helium bonds can't exist, shout the skeptics? Well, 1993 marked production of the first He@C60 clathrate (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/05/us/chemists-find-way-to-make-an-impossible-compound.html">story here</a>), and friend of the blog <a href="http://www.rzepa.net/blog/">Henry Rzepa</a> had a theoretical <a href="http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v2/n5/full/nchem.596.html">paper in 2010</a> discussing charge-shift C-He bonding. True, isolable heliocarbons are still at large, for anyone seeking a high-risk, high-reward tenure project [<i>ducks</i>].<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qdLT3yoiYgE/VyaillbXMuI/AAAAAAAAEnE/jQL5qoj-sGEf9WcAY6Pua4IQK7lD1yZ2wCLcB/s1600/HeliumX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qdLT3yoiYgE/VyaillbXMuI/AAAAAAAAEnE/jQL5qoj-sGEf9WcAY6Pua4IQK7lD1yZ2wCLcB/s400/HeliumX.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Molecular modeling has always looked best on Macs. There, I said it.<br />Fox Broadcasting Corp.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In his post, Mitch calls attention to the NMR, though I found the second analytical spectrum more entertaining, since it has an actual <b>reference </b>printed across the top. Turns out the producers did their homework for this one - this spectrum is an example of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mrm.1910300604/abstract">spectral linear combination</a> to quantify small amounts of metabolites in blood plasma - good call!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-68iJEcrWnCI/VyahY-qVQJI/AAAAAAAAEm4/8IRwxm_3w-4o2JpM3L62uKzgftW4oIiigCLcB/s1600/spectrumX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-68iJEcrWnCI/VyahY-qVQJI/AAAAAAAAEm4/8IRwxm_3w-4o2JpM3L62uKzgftW4oIiigCLcB/s400/spectrumX.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real science! In a sci-fi show! Who knew?<br /><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Fox Broadcasting Corp.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Back to the (flimsy) plot: certain details are over-the-top cheesy, like the "hand scanner" Jason uses to access his facility - it looks like it was built from an old dot-matrix calculator screen screwed into a subway post:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oTmZTbd0IaY/VyaiCUUbc4I/AAAAAAAAEnA/xkF3xNPoH2QMuO9hALuA4RaU0ds1A6YVACLcB/s1600/scannerX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oTmZTbd0IaY/VyaiCUUbc4I/AAAAAAAAEnA/xkF3xNPoH2QMuO9hALuA4RaU0ds1A6YVACLcB/s320/scannerX.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State-of-the-art security for the "MIT Biomedical Research Facility"<br />Alternate caption: I spent a weekend building this prop, and they used it for 4 seconds of footage.<br />Fox Broadcasting Corp.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The writers have also presaged the warm-liquid-goo-phase meme from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/">Austin Powers</a>, as the antidote to the freezing catalyst seems to be epinephrine, DMSO, electroshock...and complete-body immersion in a human-sized deep fryer:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xNiBmBApupE/Vyai9ZK2y9I/AAAAAAAAEnM/aQckprjZzl8KqN9LQYJsqlcx2qknCQDrACLcB/s1600/GooX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xNiBmBApupE/Vyai9ZK2y9I/AAAAAAAAEnM/aQckprjZzl8KqN9LQYJsqlcx2qknCQDrACLcB/s400/GooX.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warm liquid goo phase - Complete!<br />Fox Broadcasting Corp.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Spoiler alert</b> - the concluding scene, a conflagration in the "MIT computer mainframe," would likely have set the Schrock and Buchwald groups back quite a number of years.<br />
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<br />
Finally, I'll leave you with a silly futuristic quote: "<i>The technology to engineer [Compound X] is still 5, 10 years away...</i>" Sorry, Dr. Lisa - it's been 23 years since this episode aired, and to my knowledge, we're still not making per-<i>heliated</i> small molecules. Maybe check back in another three decades.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>If you enjoyed this post, try some of the others in the <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2013/04/chemmoviecarnival-take-two.html">Chemistry Movie Carnival</a> from 2013.</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-45784567831689881772016-04-24T11:02:00.003-04:002016-04-24T11:02:44.132-04:00Feng Zhang's CRISPR "Miami Moment"I've spent a bit of time this week trying to grok the ever-expanding frontier where biology meets chemistry. RNA therapeutics, chemical probes, synthetic biology, protein engineering...I could go on and on. Of course, this list would be woefully incomplete without the new cool kid: <a href="http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2014/crispr-a-game-changing-genetic-engineering-technique/">CRISPR</a>.<br />
<br />
If you've read a few of the stories surrounding this field's origins, you'll recognize the names <a href="http://rna.berkeley.edu/">Doudna</a>, <a href="https://www.mpg.de/9343753/infektionsbiologie-charpentier">Charpentier</a>, and <a href="http://zlab.mit.edu/">Zhang</a>. An interesting story arc emerges in the countless biographies surrounding Feng Zhang, now at MIT / Broad. Here, it's retold through the lens of <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/07/crispr-dna-editing-2/"><i>WIRED</i> author</a> Amy Maxmen:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="background: white;">"Soon
after starting [at the Broad], he heard a speaker at a scientific advisory
board meeting mention Crispr. 'I was bored,' Zhang says, 'so as the researcher
spoke, I just Googled it.' Then he went to Miami for an epigenetics conference,
but he hardly left his hotel room. Instead, Zhang spent his time reading papers
on Crispr and filling his notebook with sketches on ways to get Crispr and Cas9
into the human genome. “That was an extremely exciting weekend,” he says,
smiling."</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
</blockquote>
Have you ever had a point in your life like this? Perhaps Zhang truly found the conference boring, and researching CRISPR was his best escape. However, since this story crops up so often, I'd like to think it's an attempt to capture the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)">"flow" state</a> as it applies to crystallization of a new field of research or career direction. Hopefully you recognize the feeling - total immersion, loss of time, tuning out all external concerns while your brain opens up to the vast possibilities of something truly new.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vsd9WOUVaq4/VxzdpTyU1AI/AAAAAAAAEmg/u2HkGHlbhq057V_u2kAJyEea26aoVRW_ACLcB/s1600/Lotto_2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vsd9WOUVaq4/VxzdpTyU1AI/AAAAAAAAEmg/u2HkGHlbhq057V_u2kAJyEea26aoVRW_ACLcB/s320/Lotto_2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearly, a computer algorithm with a scientific sense of humor printed this lotto ticket. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
From my own experience, I can remember a handful of flow moments that I sustained for longer than a few hours. In the first, I spent two or three days reading everything I could about a competitor's catalysis research - hoping not to get scooped - and encountering multiple exciting ideas about monodentate ligand binding left unexplored. In another, I tried to track the entire <i>Vinca</i> metabolism from Tryp to the few hundred polycyclic alkaloids like vincristine and ajmaline. Plant metabolism turns out to be much more complex than I'd ever imagined.<br />
<br />
Readers, I'm certainly not alone...can you recall when you've experienced a version of Feng's Miami moment? What was it like?See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-23211883951759270612016-04-06T22:08:00.000-04:002016-04-06T22:08:22.366-04:00WWWTP? Math Non-profit EditionSaw this "promoted Tweet" go by on the Twitterz earlier this evening.<br />
But something just didn't add up.<br />
<br />
Can you spot the problem?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PauZNVKKmY/VwXAthHZSnI/AAAAAAAAEl8/HPDuVIQF7jEzlNQn_oASKfmCsWfAHYcdg/s1600/Math%2Belement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PauZNVKKmY/VwXAthHZSnI/AAAAAAAAEl8/HPDuVIQF7jEzlNQn_oASKfmCsWfAHYcdg/s640/Math%2Belement.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-62348915603638296882016-02-21T15:05:00.002-05:002016-02-21T15:06:17.251-05:00WWWTP? Slate "slate" EditionA slate on <i>Slate</i>, a frustrated man next to a frustrated organic structure. The title?<br />
"<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/02/teaching_teachers_to_use_blended_learning_education_technology.html">Teaching the Teachers.</a>"<br />
<br />
Judging by his chemical acumen - yes, this man needs teaching. Desperately.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LQvVBQoNGsc/VsoXnFgziNI/AAAAAAAAElE/2BRIRQumfng/s1600/Slate%2Bblackboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LQvVBQoNGsc/VsoXnFgziNI/AAAAAAAAElE/2BRIRQumfng/s640/Slate%2Bblackboard.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> How did he manage to make the western 1,4 diene without it slipping into conjugation?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Inquiring minds want to know.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-46282409859078266452016-02-20T13:02:00.004-05:002016-02-23T10:57:32.450-05:00What's that Crud in My NMR Sample?<div>
Scene:</div>
<div>
<i><i><br /></i></i></div>
<i>
The reaction finished in 20 minutes by TLC. You grabbed a quick aliquot for LCMS; one peak! Quickly, you quenched, extracted, perhaps pushed through a silica plug for good measure. After concentration, a gorgeous white powder formed, so you pulled high vac for 20 minutes and rushed down to "get your proton on." But, darn it! Still wet with traces of, well, something...</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
Friends, has this ever happened to you? Trace impurities in otherwise perfect spectra lead to much head-scratching and SI docs labeled "final product_spectrum 5." </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The three papers linked to this post should help.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo971176v">Nudelman, Gottlieb, Kotlyar - 1997</a>. The one that started it all.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/om100106e">Fulmer, Miller, Sherdan, Gottlieb, Nudelman, Stoltz, Bercaw, Goldberg</a>. Updated for 2010, with an organometallics bent. Now includes gases!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.oprd.5b00417">Babij, McCusker, Whiteker, Canturk, Choi, Creemer, DeAmicis, Hewlett, Johnson, Knobelsdorf, Li, Lorsbach, Nugent, Ryan, Smith, Yang, 2016</a>. The new kids <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Block">on the block</a>: greener solvents for process chemistry and scale-up. <i>*Update (23 Feb) - A kind commenter points out that #3 is <b>free to download</b> under the ACS AuthorChoice program. Sweet!</i></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCQTrEnR6lU/Vsin0ml0ZcI/AAAAAAAAEkw/E1sc1Q7udOE/s1600/solvents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="91" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCQTrEnR6lU/Vsin0ml0ZcI/AAAAAAAAEkw/E1sc1Q7udOE/s640/solvents.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The new chart offers recommendations (colored arrows) based on <a href="https://www.chem21.eu/project/work-packages/wp5/">Chem21</a> assessments of environmental impact, safety, and toxicity. Shown above are chemical shift tables (1H) in deuterated chloroform, acetone, and dimethyl sulfoxide.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<br />
If I were joining a synthetic lab this year, or starting an internship / work-study, I'd download 'em all and thumbtack liberally to the back of my bench. Guaranteed utility.</div>
</div>
See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-71681786380527944182016-02-19T20:10:00.004-05:002017-01-28T11:21:02.689-05:00Chemistry Bumper Cars: 2016-2017Sometimes great science means changing the view outside your <strike>office</strike> lab windows.<br />
(<i>Bonus: This usually comes with a new title and some <a href="http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/filthy+lucre">filthy lucre</a>, too!</i>)<br />
<br />
The people have spoken: <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2015-2016.html">last year's list</a> has grown ungainly, and so it's time for a new batch.<br />
Same rules apply: If you hear of a move, tell me in the comments, and I'll post in the "Pending Confirmation" section. Escape from pending purgatory involves sending me a link or other documentation from the new institution. Fair enough?<br />
<br />
<b><u>Moves</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Trisha Andrew (<a href="http://www.chem.umass.edu/faculty/andrew.html">Wisconsin to UMass</a>) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources + email</i></span><br />
Ryan Bailey (<a href="https://www.lsa.umich.edu/chem/people/faculty/ci.baileyryan_ci.detail">UIUC to Michigan</a>)<br />
Raychelle Burks (<a href="https://twitter.com/DrRubidium/status/703942503666458624">Doane to St. Edward's</a>)*<br />
Garnet Chan (Princeton to Caltech) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">four</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources + email</i></span><br />
Andres Cisneros (Wayne State to UNT) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
William Dichtel (<a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2016/01/dichtel-joins-northwestern.html">Cornell to Northwestern</a>)<br />
Guangbin Dong (<a href="https://chemistry.uchicago.edu/faculty/faculty/person/member/guangbin-dong.html">UT Austin to Chicago</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks to <b>five</b> sources!</i></span><br />
Greg Dudley (<a href="http://chemistry.wvu.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/kaus">FSU to West Virginia</a>, chair)<br />
Daniel Everson (<a href="http://www.csuchico.edu/chem/features/everson_welcome.shtml">St. Olaf to CSU Chico</a>)<br />
Keir Fogarty (St. Olaf to <a href="http://www.highpoint.edu/blog/2015/09/new-chemistry-professor-joins-hpu-faculty/">High Point</a>)<br />
Tendai Gadzikwa (<a href="http://www.k-state.edu/chem/people/grad-faculty/gadzikwa/index.html">Zimbabwe / Alberta to Kansas State</a>)<br />
Vicki Grassian (<a href="http://www-chem.ucsd.edu/faculty/profiles/grassian_vicki_h.html">Iowa to UCSD</a>)<br />
Carlos Guerrero (UCSD to BMS)<br />
Zhongwu Guo (<a href="https://www.chem.ufl.edu/about/news/">Wayne State to Florida</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
R. Kip Guy (St. Jude to Kentucky, Admin) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>personal comm</i></span><br />
Stephen Heller (<a href="http://hellerlab.weebly.com/">Willamette to Loyola Marymount</a>)<br />
Kenneth Henderon (<a href="http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2016/05/northeastern-appoints-kenneth-henderson-dean-of-college-of-science/">Notre Dame to Northeastern</a>, Admin)<br />
Rigoberto Hernandez (<a href="https://twitter.com/EveryWhereChem/status/723031810544832512">Georgia Tech to Johns Hopkins</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Tijana Ivanovic (<a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2015/october/new-faculty.html">Colorado to Brandeis</a>)<br />
Lisa Kendhammer (<a href="http://www.csuchico.edu/chem/features/kendhammer_welcome.shtml">Georgia to CSU Chico</a>)<br />
Bern Kohler (Montana State to <a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/~kohler/">OSU</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Kristie Koski (Brown to <a href="http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>)<br />
Chad Lewis (<a href="http://millerlab.yale.edu/group-members/former-group-members">Cornell to Pfizer</a>)<br />
Roger Linington (<a href="https://www.sfu.ca/chemistry/people/profiles/rliningt.html">UC-Santa Cruz to Simon Fraser</a>)<br />
Aimin Liu (<a href="https://www.utsa.edu/chem/faculty/AiminLiu.html">Georgia State to UTSA</a>)<br />
Pamela Lundin (Wake Forest to <a href="http://www.highpoint.edu/blog/2015/10/chemistry-department-adds-new-professor/">High Point</a>)<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anita Mattson (<a href="https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/aemattson">Ohio State to WPI</a>) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources + DM</i></span><br />
Mark McLaughlin (<a href="http://directory.hsc.wvu.edu/Individual/Index/45305" target="_blank">USF to West Virginia</a>)<br />
Andrew Phillips (<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160202005210/en/C4-Therapeutics-Appoints-Andrew-Phillips-Ph.D.-Chief">Broad to C4 Therapeutics</a>)<br />
Alexander Radosevich (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/alexander-t-radosevich-join-department">Penn State to MIT</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>four sources</i></span><br />
Jerome Robinson (<a href="https://www.brown.edu/academics/chemistry/news/2016-03/department-chemistry-welcomes-dr-jerome-robinson-faculty">Axalta to Brown</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources</i></span><br />
Tomislav Rovis (<a href="http://chem.columbia.edu/news/columbia-chemistry-welcomes-tom-rovis-to-the-faculty/">Colo State to Columbia</a>) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> four<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> sources + Twitter DM</span></span></i><br />
Stuart Rowan (<a href="http://ime.uchicago.edu/about/news/ime_welcomes_materials_scientist_stuart_rowan/">CWRU to Chicago</a>) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">three</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources + email</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Emily Scott (<a href="https://pharmacy.umich.edu/about-college/news/category/faculty-news/college-welcomes-professor-emily-scott">Kansas to Michigan</a>) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
Steve Soper (<a href="https://chem.ku.edu/steven-soper-joins-ku-chemistry-foundation-distinguished-professor-0">UNC to Kansas</a>) <br />
John Stanton (<a href="https://www.chem.ufl.edu/about/news/">UT-Austin to Florida</a>)<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Eric Strieter (</span><a href="http://www.chem.umass.edu/faculty/strieter.html" style="font-size: medium;">Wisconsin to UMass</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">) </span><i>three</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Alice Ting (<a href="http://www.tinglab.org/contact/">MIT to Stanford</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>many sources</i></span><br />
Dave Thirumalai (<a href="http://www.cm.utexas.edu/news/dave-thirumalai-to-chair-department-of-chemistry">Maryland to UT Austin, admin</a>)<br />
Dirk Trauner (<a href="http://chemistry.as.nyu.edu/object/chem.news.DirkTrauner.2016" target="_blank">LMU to NYU</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Um...Dirk told me, and now there's a link! (Dec 2016)</i></span><br />
Steven Wheeler (<a href="http://www.chem.tamu.edu/rgroup/wheeler/news.php">Texas A&M to Georgia</a>)<br />
Angela Wilson (<a href="http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16039/nsf16039.pdf">UNT to MSU to NSF</a>)<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
Moved to 2017 list...<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span>
--<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="239" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a-RG2us-uw8/Vse546jQ7CI/AAAAAAAAEj0/pvkw8Ucd7_s/s320/airplane.jpg" width="320" /></div>
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>New Hires</u></b><br />
<br />
Mitchell Anstey (<a href="https://www.davidson.edu/academics/chemistry/faculty-and-staff/mitch-anstey">Davidson</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one very specific source....</i></span><br />
Nicole Ashpole (<a href="http://pharmacy.olemiss.edu/biomolecularsciences/team/dr-nicole-ashpole/">Mississippi Pharmacy</a>)<br />
Jonathan Barnes (<a href="http://pages.wustl.edu/barnes">Wash U St Louis</a>)<br />
Andrew Beharry (<a href="http://beharrylab.com/">Toronto</a>)<br />
Eric Bloch (<a href="https://www.chem.udel.edu/people/full-list-searchable/bloch">Delaware</a>)<br />
Lauren Buchanan (<a href="http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/Chemistry/includes/inc_roomrespop.php?ReservationID=7695&DateClick=03/19/2016">Vanderbilt</a>)<br />
Jessica Brown (<a href="http://chemistry.nd.edu/news/65960-new-faculty-member-jessica-brown/">Notre Dame</a>)<br />
Michael Campbell (<a href="http://chemistry.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/welcome_back_spring_2016.pdf">Barnard</a>)<br />
Saumen Chakraborty (<a href="http://chemistry.olemiss.edu/saumen-chakraborty/">Ole Miss</a>)<br />
Ming Chen (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/chemistry/chen/index.htm">Auburn</a>)<br />
Tai-Yen Chen (<a href="https://chen.chem.cornell.edu/index.html">Cornell to Houston</a>)<br />
W. Seth Childers (<a href="http://www.chem.pitt.edu/person/w-seth-childers">Pitt</a>)<br />
Joseph Cotruvo (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/about/chemistry-spotlights/chemistry-welcomes-four-new-faculty-members">Penn State</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span><br />
Mita Dasog <a href="http://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/chemistry/faculty-staff/our-faculty/mita-dasog.html">(Dalhousie</a>)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Alexander Dudnik (<a href="http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Byron Farnum (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam//faculty/chemistry/farnum/index.htm">Auburn</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Claire Filloux (<a href="http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aaron Frank (<a href="http://lsa.umich.edu/chem/people/faculty/afrankz.html">Michigan</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">R. Aaron Garner (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/about/chemistry-spotlights/chemistry-welcomes-four-new-faculty-members">Penn State</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nag Gavvalapalli (<a href="http://sulfur.scs.uiuc.edu/">Georgetown</a>)</span></span><br />
Jing Gu (<a href="http://www.chemistry.sdsu.edu/faculty/index.php?name=Gu">SDSU</a>)<br />
Will Gutekunst (<a href="https://www.chemistry.gatech.edu/people/Gutekunst/Will">Georgia Tech</a>)<br />
Osvaldo Gutierrez (<a href="http://www.chem.umd.edu/news/dr-osvaldo-gutierrez-joins-the-faculty-in-june-2016-as-an-assistant-professor-in-organic-chemistry/">Maryland</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Anthony Shoji Hall (<a href="http://www.interphases.org/group/">Johns Hopkins</a>)<br />
Katharine Harris (<a href="https://www.curry.edu/about-curry/news-and-events/recent-news/news-index/welcome-faculty-2015.html">Curry</a>)<br />
Adam Holewinski (<a href="http://www.colorado.edu/chbe/adam-holewinski">Colorado</a>)<br />
Joseph Houck (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/about/chemistry-spotlights/chemistry-welcomes-four-new-faculty-members">Penn State</a>)<br />
Xiaocheng Jiang (<a href="http://now.tufts.edu/people-notes/people-notes-september-2015">Tufts</a>)<br />
Miles Johnson (<a href="https://blog.richmond.edu/downey/">Richmond</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Julia Kalow (<a href="http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/profiles/julia-kalow.html">Northwestern</a>)<br />
Sarah Keanes (<a href="http://www.hhmi.umbc.edu/">Michigan</a>)<br />
Aaron Kelly (<a href="http://chempostingscanada.blogspot.ca/2016/02/aaron-kelly-hired-by-dalhousie.html">Dalhousie, 2017</a>)<br />
Stefan Kilyanek (<a href="http://comp.uark.edu/~kilyanek/members.html">Arkansas</a>)<br />
Justin Kim (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-kim-a9575880">Dana Farber</a>)<br />
Ralph Kleiner (<a href="https://chemistry.princeton.edu/news/ralph-kleiner-join-princeton-chemistry-faculty">Princeton</a>)<br />
Jennifer Laaser (<a href="http://www.chem.pitt.edu/person/jennifer-laaser">Pitt</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source + DM</i></span><br />
Henry "Pete" La Pierre (<a href="http://www.chemistry.gatech.edu/news/article/214913">Georgia Tech</a>)<br />
Hoang Le (<a href="http://pharmacy.olemiss.edu/biomolecularsciences/faculty/">Mississippi Pharmacy</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Frank Leibfarth (<a href="https://twitter.com/MeekGroup/status/706114058043465728">North Carolina</a>)<br />
Christina Li (<a href="https://www.chem.purdue.edu/li/people.html">Purdue</a>)<br />
Brian Liau (<a href="http://www.liaulab.org/people/">Harvard</a>)<br />
Song Lin (<a href="http://chemistry.cornell.edu/faculty/song-lin.cfm">Cornell</a>)<br />
Steffen Lindert (<a href="https://chemistry.osu.edu/faculty/lindert">Ohio State</a>)<br />
Xi Ling (<a href="https://twitter.com/BUChemistry/status/723236665939111938">Boston University</a>) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">two sources</span></i><br />
Nian Liu (<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/nliustanford/home">Georgia Tech</a>)<br />
Oana Luca (<a href="https://lucascience.com/research/">CU Boulder</a>)<br />
Charles Machan (<a href="http://chem.virginia.edu/2016/04/26/two-new-faculty-joining-us-this-fall/">Virginia</a>)<br />
Dionicio Martinez-Solorio (<a href="http://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/martinez-solorio-dionicio/">Drexel</a>)<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Michael Marty (<a href="http://cbc.arizona.edu/cbc-welcomes-assistant-professor-michael-marty">Arizona</a>)<br />
Karthish Mathiram (<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/new-engineering-faculty-1028">MIT Chem Eng</a>)<br />
James McKone (<a href="http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2016/Pitt-hires-Asst-Professor-James-McKone/">Pitt</a>)<br />
Evangelos Miliordos (<a href="http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/chemistry/miliordos/index.htm">Auburn</a>)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pere </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 24px;">Miró</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (<a href="http://www.unf.edu/catalog/colleges/coas/Department_of_Chemistry/">North Florida</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span></span><br />
Sharon Neufeldt (<a href="http://www.chemistry.montana.edu/news/">Montana State</a>)<br />
Rodrigo Noriega (<a href="http://chem.utah.edu/directory/noriega.php">Utah</a>)<br />
Allie Obermeyer (<a href="http://cheme.columbia.edu/allie-obermeyer">Columbia</a>)<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i> two sources + DM + personal site</i></span><br />
Carissa Perez Olson (<a href="https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2011/10/Olson-early-independence-award.html">WPI</a>)<br />
Alison Ondrus (<a href="https://chemsysbio.stanford.edu/student-profiles/ondrus-alison/">CalTech</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources + email</i></span><br />
Cedric Owens (<a href="https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/cedric-owens">Chapman</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Maria-Eirini Pandelia (<a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2015/october/new-faculty.html">Brandeis</a>)<br />
Kathryn Perrine (<a href="https://blogs.mtu.edu/chemistry/2015/12/new-assistant-professor-kathryn-perrine/">Michigan Tech</a>)<br />
Myles Poulin (<a href="http://www.chem.umd.edu/news/dr-myles-poulin-to-join-marylands-department-of-chemistry-and-biochemistry/">Maryland</a>)<br />
Melanie Reber (<a href="http://129.49.51.73/wordpress/?p=261">Georgia</a>)<br />
Hans Renata (<a href="http://renatalab.com/news/">Scripps Florida</a>)<br />
Brenda Rubenstein (<a href="https://www.brown.edu/academics/chemistry/news/2016-02/department-chemistry-welcomes-dr-brenda-rubenstein-faculty">Brown</a>)<br />
Justin Sambur (<a href="http://www.chem.colostate.edu/people/jsambur/">Colo State</a>)<br />
Alina Schimpf (<a href="http://chemistry.ucsd.edu/">UCSD</a>)<br />
Valerie Schmidt (<a href="http://chemistry.ucsd.edu/">UCSD</a>)<br />
Ginger Shultz (<a href="https://www.lsa.umich.edu/chem/people/faculty/ci.shultzginger_ci.detail">Michigan</a>)<br />
Alexey Silakov (<a href="http://chem.psu.edu/directory/aus40">Penn State</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>personal comm</i></span><br />
Jillian Smith-Carpenter (<a href="https://www.fairfield.edu/lassochannel/academic/profile/index.lasso?id=2203">Fairfield</a>)<br />
Nick Stadie (<a href="http://www.chemistry.montana.edu/">Montana State</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><b><u><br /></u></b>D. Cole Stevens (<a href="http://pharmacy.olemiss.edu/biomolecularsciences/faculty/">Mississippi Pharm</a>)<br />
Karin Stevens (<a href="http://catalog.davidson.edu/content.php?catoid=17&navoid=665">Davidson</a>)<br />
Daniel Suess (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/daniel-suess-join-department">MIT</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>three sources</i></span><br />
Ruby Sullan (<a href="https://www.chem.utoronto.ca/ppl/faculty_profile.php?id=226">Toronto</a>)<br />
Pratyush Tiwary (<a href="http://www.ipst.umd.edu/">Maryland</a>)<br />
Darci Trader (<a href="http://www.djtraderlab.com/">Purdue</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>one source</i></span><br />
Emily Tsui (<a href="http://chemistry.nd.edu/people/emily-tsui/" target="_blank">Notre Dame</a>)<br />
Gael Ung (<a href="http://wp.ung.chem.uconn.edu/person/">UConn</a>)<br />
James Van Deventer (<a href="http://now.tufts.edu/people-notes/people-notes-september-2015">Tufts</a>)<br />
Jesus Velazquez (<a href="http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>)<br />
Lela Vukovic (<a href="http://utminers.utep.edu/lvukovic/index.html">UTEP</a>)<br />
Ross Wang (<a href="https://chem.cst.temple.edu/wang.html">Temple</a>) <i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> two</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Jessica White (<a href="https://www.ohio.edu/chemistry/">Ohio</a>)<br />
Travis White (<a href="https://www.ohio.edu/chemistry/">Ohio</a>)<br />
Heather Williamson (<a href="http://www.xula.edu/chemistry/profiles/hwilliamson.html">Xavier</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>thanks, Ian!</i></span><br />
Mark WB Wilson (<a href="http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/wp/wilsonlab/">Toronto</a>)<br />
Nathan Wittenberg (<a href="https://chemistry.cas2.lehigh.edu/sites/chemistry.cas2.lehigh.edu/files/No45_Chem_Newsletter.pdf">Lehigh</a>)<br />
Christina Woo (<a href="http://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/christina-woo">Harvard</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>five</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> sources</i></span><br />
Liz Wright (<a href="http://chemistry.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/welcome_back_spring_2016.pdf">Barnard</a>)<br />
Min Xue (<a href="http://chem.ucr.edu/faculty.html?id=228">UC Riverside</a>)<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mingxu You (<a href="https://elements.chem.umass.edu/youlab/people/dr-mingxu-you/">UMass</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Young (<a href="http://homepages.utoledo.edu/myoung31/default.html">Toledo</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>email</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Lauren Zarzar (</span><a href="https://swagergroup.mit.edu/lauren-zarzar">Penn State</a><span style="color: black;">) </span><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bin Zhang (<a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/bin-zhang-join-department">MIT</a>) <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>two sources</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Qiang Zhang (</span><a href="https://chem.wsu.edu/faculty/qiang-zhang/" style="font-size: medium;">Wash State U</a><span style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></span></span><br />
Sen Zhang (<a href="http://chem.virginia.edu/2016/04/26/two-new-faculty-joining-us-this-fall/">Virginia</a>)<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mingjiang Zhong (<a href="http://seas.yale.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/mingjiang-zhong">Yale</a>)</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Pending Confirmation</u></b><br />
<br />
Moved to 2017 list...<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><i>List covers Feb 2016 - Jan 2017 start dates</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2015-2016 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2015/01/chemistry-bumper-cars-2015-2016.html">click here</a></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2014-2015 moves, <a href="http://justlikecooking.blogspot.com/2014/06/chemistry-bumper-cars-2014-2015.html">click here</a>.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">For 2012-2013 moves, <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/03/26/academic-movement-and-hires-2012-2013/">click here</a>. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">*<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-pl6ao_z9U&feature=youtu.be">B</a></span></i><i style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-pl6ao_z9U&feature=youtu.be">onus video</a>!</i>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com351tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-14509463186252634182016-02-06T23:42:00.000-05:002016-02-06T23:44:35.797-05:00WWGS: What Would Gmelin Say?Earlier tonight, I happened across a yellowed, dog-eared copy of <i>The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry</i>, the 1894 opus* of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schorlemmer">Carl Schorlemmer</a>, finished with help from his colleague Arthur Smithells. I didn't get a chance to read it cover to cover, but I appreciated a pithy quote in a postscript, purportedly an exchange between two chemistry heavyweights:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>When in 1829 it was found that pyro-uric and cyanuric acid were identical, Wöhler wrote to Liebig: 'Gmelin will say, Thank God, one acid less.'"</i></blockquote>
This, of course, in reference to Gmelin's attempt to gather the mid-1800s chemistry literature into a practical reference book. He would go on to create the Gmelin Inorganic Handbook, later to evolve into the Gmelin Database, part of modern-day Reaxys.<br />
<br />
I appreciated the formal sentiment that pervades the text; certainly it's the first chemistry book I've seen that gives the reader a parting word after the index:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNqNAMNzsNE/VrbInPZpvEI/AAAAAAAAEjI/2ZBdd6qYueA/s1600/The_End_6Feb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNqNAMNzsNE/VrbInPZpvEI/AAAAAAAAEjI/2ZBdd6qYueA/s320/The_End_6Feb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm sure I'll have more to say later on....there's some wild structures in this book, some that should give any serious bench chemist pause:</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7HA-hS-b7QQ/VrbKxE5l2oI/AAAAAAAAEjU/wBEeEnlkE20/s1600/quinone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7HA-hS-b7QQ/VrbKxE5l2oI/AAAAAAAAEjU/wBEeEnlkE20/s320/quinone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Aromatic endoperoxides? Egad.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Just found out it's free online! <a href="https://archive.org/details/riseanddevelopm00smitgoog">Go here.</a> Happy reading!</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-31004110450823133212016-01-26T14:30:00.000-05:002016-01-26T14:30:32.835-05:00Tough-to-Swallow PropargylationAs I thumbed through the recent <i>Tet Lett </i>abstracts, I encountered <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004040391630017X">this title</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Regioselective propargylation of aldehydes using potassium allenyltrifluoroborate promoted by <b>tonsil</b>"</blockquote>
Turns out, the authors were referring to <a href="http://www.vulcascot.at/media/content/downloads/tonsil_bleaching.pdf">Tonsil (R)</a>, an acid-treated calcium bentonite clay, not the fleshy pockets in the back of the throat associated with immune response. I guess BRSM doesn't have to update his "<a href="http://brsmblog.com/conditions-you%E2%80%99ll-probably-never-be-desperate-enough-to-try/">Desperate Conditions</a>" list quite yet...<br />
<br />
So, in summary:<br />
<br />
This.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7LAyT9vIQg/VqfIVeT8iwI/AAAAAAAAEik/-40plsgZwg8/s1600/clay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7LAyT9vIQg/VqfIVeT8iwI/AAAAAAAAEik/-40plsgZwg8/s320/clay.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Sud-Chemie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Not This.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSyC-9OyxAc/VqfIgUBOnHI/AAAAAAAAEis/eXEeSjigCWQ/s1600/tonsil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSyC-9OyxAc/VqfIgUBOnHI/AAAAAAAAEis/eXEeSjigCWQ/s1600/tonsil.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-90431654246277952482016-01-11T22:26:00.001-05:002016-01-11T22:26:56.661-05:00The NMR Laundromat<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v9bgwDk9Lrc/VpRvEHXEgWI/AAAAAAAAEhM/DHcs8WBjvDM/s1600/NMR_cleaner.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v9bgwDk9Lrc/VpRvEHXEgWI/AAAAAAAAEhM/DHcs8WBjvDM/s320/NMR_cleaner.gif" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: <i>OPRD</i> / CNRS</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The simplest, most practical solutions* are often the best.<br />
<br />
I'm reminded of classic papers for pragmatic lab procedures, like Clark Still's on <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo00408a041">flash chromatography</a>, or Gottlieb & Nudelman's on detecting <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jo971176v">trace NMR impurities</a>. Everyone has encountered their lab's version of the <a href="http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=8973">Kugelrohr setup</a> - run by an old electric kettle and a windshield-wiper motor!<br />
<br />
From the <i>ASAP</i> of <i>Organic Process Research and Development</i> comes this handy one-pager: a how-to on <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.oprd.6b00001">cleaning dozens of NMR tubes</a> simultaneously, using glassware readily available in just about any synth lab.<br />
<br />
Seeing this instantly triggered a "Well, duh!" moment for me - the amount of time I've stood before a stoppered 500mL vacuum flask impaled with a cannula, washing single tubes by hand...I'm sure it reaches into hours, if not days.<br />
<br />
If you try this, leave a comment; I'm really quite interested to see how it turns out. I'd also wonder if <i>OPRD</i> might be angling for other quick one-offs. Couldn't hurt to try, right?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't point unfamiliar readers to the treasure trove that is <i><a href="http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~nvd/index.php?page=home">Not Voodoo</a>.</i></span>See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.com7