Friday Fun: Traveling Salesman

"Let's add some more zeroes to that number..."
Source: Mad Men | AMC

Out shilling for funds again. I've packed my book of spells, a suit, my voodoo doll, the rain stick, and a thesaurus. #phdlife #startup

— See Arr Oh (@SeeArrOh) August 8, 2013

Suit pressed.

Hair cut.

Shoes shined.

Marketing done.

Presentation saved to (one, two...) multiple USB drives.



...maybe I'll even have time for some chemistry today...

Wish me luck! 
Happy Friday, everyone.
-SAO

Get it Funded! (A Game)

Last night, intrepid C&EN reporter Dr. Dre, err, Dr. Drahl, sent over another challenge from NOS2013:

I think Jerry Berson talked w/me re funding influencing field flux. So what's gonna happen to totsyn?
— Carmen Drahl (@carmendrahl) June 27, 2013

Let's reword that: How will changes in funding affect total synthesis, the study of assembling complex natural products from simple commercial chemicals?

Now, this isn't the first time folks have declared the synthetic field to be on death's door. Hardly. So, I answered the way I always do, which has kept the field alive and kicking long past Woodward:

@carmendrahl @2014RMC @ChemProfCramer TotSyn will survive - it'll just dress itself in new clothes for new funding opps #SameOldStory
— See Arr Oh (@SeeArrOh) June 27, 2013

Chemjobber, always one for a savvy one-liner, immediately jumped on board:

.@SeeArrOh "Towards the enantioselective nanodelivery of 56-desoxymaitotoxin" @carmendrahl @2014RMC @ChemProfCramer
— Chemjobber (@Chemjobber) June 27, 2013

Nyuk nyuk nyuk. OK, wise guy, I've got a few more, then . . .

"Reversible carbon dioxide capture using lycopodium alkaloid analogs"

"Pentacene-functionalized steroids for solar panels"

"Origin of Life: The Gliotoxin Hypothesis"

"Analysis of 10^5 novel secondary metabolites in the human gut microbiome"

OK, Readers, I'm sure you can do better. Leave me some gut-shakers and knee-slappers in the comments section!

WWWTP? Alzheimer's 'Drug'

I dub thee "Artistic Lead I"
(K.C.N. would be so proud!)
Source: ADDF

From the Twitterverse came a link to Estee Lauder's Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). A nobel effort, to be sure, but check out their "molecule" on the home page.

Anyone have any idea what this could be? I remember learning that (generally) red = O, black = C, yellow = S, and blue = N, but what's "shiny pearlescent purple?" (tungsten?). My guess would be that any structure with 2 cyclic N-O bonds and a reduced sulfoxide would be quite unstable, but that's me...

If anyone knows what they were trying for, let me know in the comments.

Update (9:25AM) - Here's my rendering in ChemDraw: