WWWTP? Math Non-profit Edition

Saw this "promoted Tweet" go by on the Twitterz earlier this evening.
But something just didn't add up.

Can you spot the problem?

"But...This Synthesis Goes Up to Eleven!"

Have you had fun reading through all the hilarious send-ups on the Twitter hashtag #HonestChemTitles? This tag tries to dig down to the subtext behind highfalutin words and strange symbols, uncovering the hidden motivations behind scientific papers. And...it's a hoot.

Remember the tweet that kicked off this brouhaha? A harmless convergent synthesis of some Lycopodium alkaloids. Kudos to @AlexFGoldberg for highlighting the authors' rather overblown title:

Classic children's literature;
my first exposure to superlatives

Amazingly, that 10-word title is 30% superlatives and 30% chemistry, with a smattering of conjunctions and articles to connect them. As others pointed out, how do you measure "elegantness," anyway? And when does a total synthesis cross the line from concise to exceedingly so; can anything more than a one-stepper be really succinct?

Sort through the paper with a grammarian's fine-toothed comb; one wonders if it wasn't run through some sort of excitement thesaurus, perhaps to get people really stoked about these routes.

Here's all the intense words and expressions I found:

Diverse
Useful
Unique
Challenging
Efficient
Complete
Direct
Achieved
Accomplished
Value
Exceedingly concise and convergent
Attractive

...and that's just in the first paragraph, folks.

Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), ca. 1984

Honest opinion? Aside from the goofy title and superlatives liberally sprinkled into the text, the chemistry seems solid. Nothing's breathtaking - setting an early quaternary center through steric control is nice, and telescoping the three steps before the desired tetracyclic dione works well - but there's no "killer reaction" for me in this paper. The NMRs are clean, and the synthesis represents a decent improvement over existing methods.


Thus, I'd like to accept this publication into the "Spinal Tap Synthesis" category, so-named for the hard rock auteurs profiled in 1984's This is Spinal Tap, the tongue-in-cheek rock mockumentary. If you've never watched the movie, I won't spoil it, but I highly recommend the sequence in the middle where Nigel Tufnel, the vapid, misunderstood lead guitarist, obsesses over a "special" amp he designed that "goes to 11."

Fits this paper to a T.

Wanted: Chemistry Humorists...err, Editors

Earlier this week, I took Angewandte Chemie to task: their (in)famous graphical abstract puns just weren't funny anymore. They responded with a job opening*, potentially to write exactly those puns I had just maligned. What a coincidence!

.@SeeArrOh A sense of humor is not explicitly mentioned in our recent job advert, but it's clearly a bonus. http://t.co/fSbMb1HMjC #chemjobs

— Angewandte Chemie (@angew_chem) May 4, 2015

Chemistry writers of the world: Are you witty? Good at writing? Want to live in Germany?
Link's embedded in the Tweet.

*Sorry, Chemjobber, I know this is usually your beat, but I really couldn't resist.

...and now for Something Completely Different

I've been mulling over a version of this post for far too long, so here goes:

It's time to make some changes around here.

As I've quipped before, all careers in chemistry eventually leave the lab. Nearly gone are the days of the frizzy white-haired scientist holding aloft the shimmering vial and shouting "Eureka!"

Today, we often find ourselves in transition: Post-docs become professors, who write papers and manage a group. Bench chemists move into operations or regulatory roles. Technicians re-train and become patent clerks. Even med-chem project leaders eventually hire enough people that they think project strategy and logistics far more than they shake sep funnels or run TLCs.

Adapting to change can be ruff.

And so it is with me -- I find myself at a career inflection point. My Twitter handle reads: one foot in, one foot out. Ever wondered what I meant? It means I'm no longer your friendly "workaday synthetic chemist." I'm still in a role where I think about chemistry daily, and I apply my skills to solve problems. . . I just don't run reactions with my own two (gloved) hands.

At this juncture, one feels a complex mixture of emotions, to be sure:

Excitement, to learn new things and travel more frequently.
Embarrassment, that I've been blogging about chemistry and yet haven't touched a rinse bottle of acetone in months!
Fear, that I won't be as good at this new venture as (I thought) I was at synthesis.
Resolve, that I'm going to buck up and do my best, despite my nerves.

So, gentle readers, please bear with me. I'm going to probably shift away from lab stories and synthetic methods, and try to return to the theme of my very first post:

"This blog will reach out to the wider world about science, and especially chemistry."

I may write more stream-of-consciousness posts about navigating complex organizations, managing expectations and people, and thinking strategically. I may say "vision" or "collaborative."
[Oh great, thinks half my audience, he's really drinking the corporate Kool-Aid now!]

Fine - I'll also still write about chemistry. When something really awesome catches my eye : )

Thanks again, as always,
See Arr Oh

--
I admire and applaud all who made it to the end of this short chautauqua. If you'd like to leave any kind advice on steering one's blog in a new direction, comments are open!

JLC Turns Three!

Original Art Credit: Jon Lam (@tyrannos00r)

Wow, everyone. I feel so honored and humbled that you visit my tiny little corner of the Internet sometimes.

Thank you for your continued support and online interactions.

And now, some Salient Factoids from Year 3!
(Year 1 recap | Year 2 recap)

Stats:

Pageviews: 724,000+
Total Posts: 458
Total Tweets (ongoing): 16,900+
Blog Carnivals: 1 #RealTimeChem

(Could it be that ChemCarnivals have dropped out of favor? Or am I just not playing along like I should be?)

Podcasts (4): Collapsed Wavefunction's Bad Science in the Movies, Chemjobber's Start-up Adventure, Calcium Redux, Plagiarism Roundtable

(I still owe you guys those chemical pronunciations...I haven't forgotten!)

Elsewhere: Carrie Arnold of Science Careers asked me about grad school. Still pinch-hitting at Food Matters. I spoke with reporters from Nautilus and Chemistry World, but I've not yet seen their stories.

R.I.P. The Haystack, my first blogging home.

Recurring Themes: Cool reactions (hydrogenation, peroxides, Pauson-Khand, cyclobutanones, ghostly copper); start-ups, #MegaPharma, faculty moves, corrections, #chemjobs, activism, stock photo WWWTP?, book reviews, cool structures

Doubt

(Reference: JLC1, JLC2, Derek1, Derek2)

Since February 2014, Prof. Tohru Fukuyama's group has issued corrections to 11 published papers in three journals: Angewandte Chemie, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Organic Letters. Fukuyama's former colleague, Dr. Satoshi Yokoshima (now at Nagoya U), appears as a co-author on 10 of the 11 papers.

Chemical and Engineering News intrepid reporter Beth Halford recently interviewed the two men regarding their ongoing "Correction Crisis." Readers reacted skeptically:

.@cenmag 's Bethany Halford interviews Prof. Fukuyama about NMR spectra issues. Do you buy it? http://t.co/NMvzkofYmW
— Unstable Isotope (@UnstableIsotope) April 12, 2014

[Sigh]...No, I don't.

Let's look at a few more recent correction scandals. After the Cossy group published some strange spectra, Prof. Cossy wrote a letter to the entire Organic Letters community, saying:

"I reach out here with the hope that all readers might learn from this experience as I certainly have. From now on, I will never let a student or postdoc from my group upload a manuscript and/or Supporting Information file to a journal submission site by themselves"

Succinct, supportive, reflective. Prof. Cossy even allowed the responsible lab member to speak through her, saying "I know my behavior is highly unethical. I am deeply sorry for what I have done."

When the Dorta group published a strange statement in the body of their Supporting Information, Dorta spoke to Organometallics Editor John Gladysz, claiming "...the statement [in the SI] was inappropriate." To my knowledge, Prof. Dorta has never blamed his student coauthor, Emma.

Now, let's take a look at the C&EN article. How do Fukuyama and Yokoshima address their spate of corrections?

“Almost all of our recent research accomplishments are the results of close collaboration between myself, Professor Yokoshima, and our students,” Fukuyama explains.

Team spirit! OK, I'm fine with that. Next? (emphasis mine):

“My impression is that some of my students who deleted minor peaks did not take seriously the idea that the spectroscopic data are important proof of the compounds’ purity,” Fukuyama says. “I myself have never manipulated the spectroscopic data or even dreamed that my students would do such a stupid thing.”

Wow. Did they just throw every one of their 19 coauthors (I counted!) under the bus?
Another (emphasis mine):

“It was our fault not to scrutinize every spectrum in the supporting information before sending them out for publication,” Fukuyama adds, “but my staff members and I simply believed that all of my students are honest.” As soon as they learned of the manipulations, he says, “we told our students never to do such a stupid thing. I can assure you that we will never send out manuscripts containing manipulated spectra again.”

To paraphrase the Bard - the Professor doth protest too much, methinks.

Note the "Yes, but..." structure of his argument. See how it lobs the blame squarely back on the coauthors? And the choice of language, calling one's apprentices "stupid" and essentially dishonest? Not cool.

In most scientific organizations, culture comes from the top. Even coauthor Yokoshima admits that...

“We have told our students that the NMR spectra should not contain peaks of residual solvents or impurities for publication...our comments and the limited machine time seemed to have forced them to use the ‘Delete Peak’ function.”

If your group focuses on "clean up your spectra" more than "purify your compounds better," that's a communications issue. If a professor with a large group sees nothing but perfect spectra all day, two thoughts should crop up:

1. "I must have the smartest, most efficient students in the world," or...
2. "Something's fishy here."

Even the busiest profs in the biz - traveling for international conferences, serving on NIH panels, consulting - must still see their students' work at least three times prior to publication. Group meetings, one-on-one office meetings, project round-tables, manuscript submission, reviews, galley proofs? All perfect opportunities to catch ethical errors privately before revealing them to the wider world.

Sadly, the professors don't seem to answer the real question: What went wrong here? Public shaming won't fix your lab's culture. By closing ranks and shutting out 19 potential collaborators, Fukuyama and Yokoshima invite even more scrutiny into their lab's motivations.

Update (4/12/14) - Changed the last paragraph to avoid any judgment on the interview style. I believe Ms. Halford conducted it just fine.

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

JLC Turns Two!

Credit: Nat Geo

(I won't be here to update on July 15, so I'm a bit early!)

Once again, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every person who clicked here over the past 363 days.

This past year's been full of ups and downs, as #phdlife in start-ups often is. Blogging keeps me both excited about and engaged in science communication...and provides a welcome respite when things at work get too crazy. 

Of note, 2013 has seen an explosion in new chemblogging talent. I'm stoked to watch our combined efforts start to get real recognition in the wider world and in the general public.

Salient Factoids from Year 2:
(Year 1 recap)

Stats:
Pageviews: 276,000+
Posts: 218
Total Tweets (ongoing): 11,700+
Blog Carnivals (7): #ChemSummer and #FoodChem (hosted by CENtral Science), #KCNBirthday (hosted by BRSM), #ChemCoach, #ChemMovieCarnival, #BRSMBlogParty, #RealTimeChem

Podcasts: 14 (Thanks to Matt, CJ, Dr. Rb, Ethan, and Deb!)
Stu, you're in the queue...

Elsewhere: Blog Syn (5), The Haystack (2), Chemistry Blog (2), Chemjobber (1), Sceptical Chymist (2)
(*July 2012 - July 2013. Want a guest post, or want to guest post? Email me at seearroh_AT_gmail_DOT_com)

Recurring Themes: Reproducibility, Pop Culture Chemistry, Plagiarism, WWWTP?, Food Chemistry, Catalysis, Blog Philosophy, Wordle, Chemophobia, Tech Funding, Enthusiasm, Cool Structures, Faculty Moves, Football, Surveys, Star Trek, Friday Fun, Hand-drawn

WWWTP? "Tristillation?" Not So Fast, Zarco

A goofy, over-the-top marketing campaign for Zarco* tequila made its Twitter rounds yesterday (thanks, David Perry, ChemBark, and Chemjobber!).

Here's the company's video, titled "Tristillation (TM) Explained." I can't succinctly explain all the goofy pseudo-science in one fell swoop, so I'll just go second by second.

0:01 - Welcome to Zarco! Why, oh why, does everyone believe labs need a blinding hospital-white color scheme?
0:03 - Do you usually use a light microscope to examine molecules? I certainly don't.
0:04 - That retort in the background is boiling away, but there's NO FLAME underneath it (?!?)
0:06 - When's the last time you used a separatory funnel to isolate your distillate?

0:11 - Laymen's terms - Dear Zarco: Distillation doesn't work like that! The crude fermentation isn't sitting there in some sort of "pre-alcohol" waiting for you to add heat. When you distill, you're purifying the ethyl alcohol (their 'C-two-H-five-Oh-H') away from the water.

Ye Gods.

0:17 - A third undiscovered 'element' - this part is so inane I forgot to laugh. Short answer: no.
0:22 - Chemetron Medical products collection jar in the background. That's a plastic autoclave bottle; I'd never use it for this.

There's a few other videos save on their YouTube portal, Highlights include near-complete lack of gloves, goggles, or other safety equipment, and (chuckle) a background reflux condenser, which you'd actually use to distill something, sitting abandoned on a clamp.

I get the kitschy, comedic sci-fi vibe Zarco was going for, but they'd better hope their target audience isn't science literate. I can't get past the stupid long enough to buy a bottle.

*Does it bother anyone else that "Zarco" sounds like Darco, the fine activated carbon powder we actually DO use in lab? (to remove colors from solutions)

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!

What's Important? Data Analysis

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in with their two (or three) most important job criteria.

We had a final tally of 42 (!) respondents, who gave a total of 94 answers. Here's the much-vaunted pie chart I promised on Friday:

Comments:

1. Many people wanted "meaning" behind their daily work. There're a lot of terms one could use to describe that special feeling of fulfillment - they're all included in the largest pie wedge.

2. Only a tenth of you indicated salary or benefits as part of your criteria. Two percent mentioned promotions or advancement. Shocking, really, especially in a down economy.

3. The "Misc" category included responses such as autonomy, lack of bureaucracy, morality, health, and...free food.

4. Prediction: If I offered a 5-year job working on cures for neglected diseases, starring top-flight, team-oriented colleagues located 10 minutes down the street from your house, most of you would take it.

Right?

So, in the end, have we vindicated Mr. Sturgeon's beliefs about modern science workers? I believe we have. Interesting work and collegiality really do seem to matter most!*

*Limitations: Now, this only surveyed 42 chemists, so I'm missing out on the other 90,858. I'm well aware that the survey only caught 1) chemists reading blogs, 2) chemists on Twitter, and 3) chemists who could comment on blogs during (presumably) working hours. Not exactly perfect conditions for such a study. My 'analysis,' such as it was, had no tests for accuracy, and no way to filter out trolls. C'est la vie.

Challenge: I'd love to see this survey writ large...wouldn't you? Perhaps a larger journal or scientific society could issue the survey to their members (lookin' at you, ACS, Science...).

Readers: Questions, comments? Feel free to contact me (Seearroh_AT_gmail).

Friday Fun: How to Fund Your Data Analyst

Remember Amos Smith's Editorial, discussed here yesterday?

(and here, and here, and here)

I wondered, on Twitter: How many submissions does Organic Letters get in a year, anyway?

Sonja Krane, a JACS editor, set me straight:

@seearroh Journal submission statistics aren't publicly available. Sorry I can't be more helpful in this case!
— Sonja Krane (@sonjakrane) June 6, 2013

Rats, foiled again! But then, an interesting tidbit from Stu Cantrill over at Nature Chemistry
(N.B. Stu used to work at OL):

@seearroh When I was there, accept rate was getting down to 50%. I suspect now 30-40%, so look at papers published in 2012 & go from there.
— Stuart Cantrill (@stuartcantrill) June 7, 2013 

Hmm, so all I have to do is count. In 2012, Organic Letters published 24 issues, which seem to have an average article count ~80 / per.* So that's 2,000 articles / year, give or take 100. Now, let's assume Stu's lower range (30% acceptance) - that's 7,000 submissions. Back of the envelope, I'd guess an average Supporting Info section to clock in at around 40 pages nowadays.

That's 280,000 pages of SI.
Pity the poor Data Analyst.

But...what a great way to FUND this potentially burgeoning "alternative" career! A nominal fee of, say, $0.10 / SI page - price of a photocopy from way back, kids - would immediately bring $30K into the journal's coffers. A $3 "data verification" fee per manuscript brings another $21K. Not big money, but we're now into the realm of serious subsidy for someone's salary.


Readers: Would you pay $7.00 to submit your OL manuscript?

* [(Dec 21 + July 6 + Jan 6 + Apr 20) - (corrections + editorials)] = 318 articles / 4 = 79.5

WWWTP? MedChemComm Edition

E tu, Pfizer? Sheesh.
Modified from MedChemComm, 2013

Blogosphere buds Chemjobber and Organometallica took turns finding "eccentricities" in a recent MedChemComm cartoon abstract (right). OK, I get it, a hilarious cartoon of the liver as a ravenous monster, chewing up your precious drug leads...

But look closer: What on Earth is up with that structure? As CJ / OM pointed out, we've got chain breaks, Texas carbons, neutral four-coordinate amines, floating atoms, the works!

Now, this review looks to have been scribed by some heavy hitters - two Pfizer PK folks, and two medicinal chemists. Worse still? Both med chemists are from top-flight groups (Nicolaou and Corey), and I've profiled one of 'em over at my place.

So, caveat auctor - If you're listed as part of a multi-author review, always check it over* before someone else submits it! "Only YOU Can Prevent Unwanted Blogosphere Satire."

*And chemists, don't let non-chemists draw molecules for you, especially if they end up in scientific papers!

Molecular Machine, Unadorned

So, chemists, you've probably seen this article over at Nature News, which reports a "molecular robot" capable of traveling down a track to assemble a small peptide. Pretty awesome, right?

Source: Nature News | Leigh Group, University of Manchester

Now, that's a cute cartoon, but what's behind the scenes? Intrigued, I hustled over to Prof. Leigh's Supporting Information, and found the real gizmo, spectra and all. Take a look!

Source: Science | Prof. David Leigh

(Yes, that's a carbon NMR, for a single compound.)

I will never complain about characterizing small-molecule drugs again!

Holiday Chemophobia: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Know what this is?
Me neither.
Source: LWON

First: A belated 'Happy Holidays' to all those chemists already returned to work.

Second: From the Twitter-verse comes a post from the (normally) fine writers over at Last Word on Nothing. 

Titled "Secret Satans: Chem101" (get it?!), the post fits in with a holiday series at LWoN. I'll let the editors explain:

"We are choosing our most daunting subjects and writing about why they scare us."

As a reader, I expected to hear some gripes and groans about the unfairness of chem grading, those interminable labs, perhaps pronunciation of long IUPAC-mandated noms-du-chem. But instead, right in the introduction, I spot this: "cold sweats," "freaked out," "deep dread," "chemophobia."

Yes, readers, this is a science blog.

I can hear the commentary now: "Calm down, SAO, this is a snarky, fun, satirical holiday piece. Right?" Well, no. "Hate" and "hatred" both appear, as does "loathe," "disaster," "evil plot," and "screwed up." Cue up the sardonic comparisons, like "cryptic as Arabic" or "esoteric knowledge, secret formulas kept by early metallurgists and alchemists." One of the authors speaks of a safety mishap involving [sic] "bromide gas," which recounts how her inadvertent calculation error caused a building evacuation. Fun stuff!

And then there's the graphics. How many times must we plead - Don't let art directors draw your molecules! I don't know exactly what these "animal tracks in the snow" represent, but if the piece aims to vilify simple chemical knowledge, it certainly does that (P.S. I know they're from Shutterstock, but that doesn't excuse their inclusion).

So why am I so critical? Shouldn't we just give LWoN a pass, have a chuckle at a favorite scientific punching-bag, and move on? 

No. Blogs, and especially science blogs, should try to take the high road. We're the voice of reason, the nagging suspicion, the social conscience of the wild, woolly online world. We should aim to advise, not attack, and question where others condemn. That cute anecdote at the end? Doesn't make up for the 709 words you just used to drag chemistry through the muck.

You can do better.

Chem Coach Carnival, Day Five

The sun's slowly setting on another great (US) National Chemistry Week. It's been a blast hanging out with so many different flavors of chemists this week, and I hope to stay in touch with all of you through the magic of online social media. Best of luck to all involved.

45. Piper, inorganic grad student, UC Berkeley. Piper blogs at Berkeley Science Review, Science Exchange, and maintains a really replete website which I'm sure will one day garner her a high profile science + media job! She says Twitter and Facebook help her plan "conference submissions" (that's what I'll tell my boss). Piper relies on to-do lists as tools to help maximize daily efficiency. Her lab buddies include a guy best known for Veritaserum and bezoars.

46. Mystery postdoc, MedChemBlog. This scientist knows that two things make work easier: coffee (huzzah!) and switching between lab and desk work to reduce monotony. MCB came into synthetic chemistry via pharmacy, which seems to be a common corridor I've overlooked. Remember how high you jumped the first time you heard an LN2 tank vent?

47. Doctor Galactic, postdoc, UK. Doc blogs at Doctor Galactic and the Lab Coat Cowboy. He has great fun doing bench chemistry, and blames "two Scots" for instilling his love for science. Somehow, he manages to tie Gollum and "brain madness" into his post. Doc doesn't recommend trying to finish a Ph.D. in just three years...

48. David, Synthetic Chemist, RTI International. David blogs at Chemical Space. He stresses the importance of networking; his current job came from a slew of former contacts: "being bold with contacting people got me here." Adaptation and flexibility are David's secrets to an enjoyable career. And a story about exploding Grignards? Always good for a laugh.

49. Rich, Chemist / Software Developer, Metamolecular. Rich blogs at Metamolecular and Depth-First. He owns a small business, and has yet to rely on government funding - no small feat in today's economy! Rich's post, like much of his writing, wins the #ChemCoach Pragmatism Prize: "How to Get a Job Like Mine." He's working on getting o-chem into your iPad in app-form, no small feat for a former med-chemist-turned-programmer. One of his major goals? "...Making life easier for those who work in labs." A noble calling.

50. Phillip, Science Correspondent, Chemistry World (He blogs at their eponymous site). His witty title might win the #ChemCoach "Pure Pith" award. Holy cow, he's also decorated blogger Tot Syn's former flat mate! (small world, this chemistry community). A simple collection of 'gerunds' from his post shows you all he gets wrapped up in: hunting, picking, writing, ticking, meeting, researching, specialising, editing, teaching, training, oxidising, clearing, alkylating, everything, anything! Want to know what it's like to move a truckload of chemicals cross-country? Phil's your guy.

51. Chris "Ziggy" Zeigler, Editorial Associate, ACS Undergrad Office. "Ziggy" blogs at Reactions. Chris apparently "partitions" himself professionally: 1/4 salesman, 0.25 customer service, a dash of editor, part admin. He plans National Meeting activities - including the always-popular demos - and maintains the Office's Twitter and Facebook presence. He almost became a pastor (really!). Chris worked with a former Bills linebacker...installing chromatography equipment.

52. Ash, Molecular Modeler / blogger, small biotech startup. Ash blogs at two different versions of the popular Curious Wavefunction: one at FoS, and one at SciAm. He loves models, organic chemistry, and can tell you anything about R.B. Woodward. Ash points out (correctly) that everyone "from the intern to the CEO" hears your views in a small outfit, and you end up filling many roles. Ash strikes me as well-versed in just about everything, a view shored up by references to Greek philosophy, French verbs, and complex algorithms. 

53. LabMonkey4Hire, Lab Monkey / Process Chemist. LM4H = also the name of his eponymous blog. A pharma guy, he knows how to move bench -> pilot -> kilo, and how to make data come alive: "No one wants to see 200 HPLCs in a presentation!" The main goal, LM explains, is to simulate reactor conditions on much smaller scale, and tweak variables accordingly. He compares full PPE for lab decon to "...being in a bizarre '90s rave video." 

54. Organometallica, grad student. OM blogs at Colorblind Chemistry. I've published his full entry below:

Your current job

I am presently a PhD student (not yet candidate, but soon!) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am an organic chemist presently working under the supervision of an inorganic chemist, meaning that my training is about as organometallic as one could hope to engineer into their degree program, I suppose.

What you do in a standard “work day”

By this point, I'm completely done taking classes, and so the largest devotion of my time is to research, which often keeps me up to the wee hours of the morning. My research is very young (I am my advisor's first and currently only student) and so in a broad sense I am trying to prove the idea that first row transition metals are not condemned to single electron chemistry with the ultimate goal of both emulating and superseding palladium using iron catalysts.

What I didn't appreciate when I applied to graduate school is how much time each day (in the early years at least) is devoted to things outside of research. Twice a week, I teach a graduate level advanced inorganic chemistry class, which comes with its own share of outside responsibilities. I also have to give seminars and am required to attend them, too. On top of all this, I supervise three undergraduate students in the laboratory, meaning that no two days are the same and that I spend large expanses of time discussing chemistry with scientists of all sorts of levels of experience. It's somewhat gymnastic in how often I have to think-and rethink-all of my ideas and reiterate them in pursuit of a larger goal.

What kind of schooling / training / experience helped you get there?

I hold a BSci in Chemistry, and that's the extent of the schooling that I had. Interspersed with this, I held three jobs in pharmaceuticals in the years leading up to graduate school. I became interested in organometallics as an undergraduate in Tobias Ritter's lab, where I got a taste of practical catalysis. After a winding first year at UIUC, I decided that my skills were best suited to fundamental research identifying and elucidating new modes of reactivity, the training for which was largely physical chemistry and was primarily self-taught.

How does chemistry inform your work?

Obviously chemistry pervades my research, but I find that general principles of chemistry have been most useful in my teaching assignments. Often in the research lab we get absorbed in technical details, but one of my favorite things to do is quiz undergraduates informally about why HCl, AcOH, and Cl2 share very similar smells, or why adding salt to an aquarium doesn't change the pH. Seeing the light bulb go on when they realize that a simple chemistry principle applies to their day-to-day life is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

Finally, a unique, interesting, or funny anecdote about your career

My (short) career has been littered with various fires, explosions and similar ilk that are probably not worth discussing here, but one interaction with a biologist strikes me here.

When I worked at a small, now defunct, biotech where I was the only lab chemist. Tasked with setting up synthesis facilities, I went about ordering chemicals. My first solvent order was turned down and I was promptly called into the big boss's office. He, a biologist, pointed out a 4L bottle of ether and exclaimed, "this is what they used to use to anesthetize mice, is this an absolutely necessary risk?" 

55. Dr. LC Square. LC's full entry published below:

Your current job.

Associate Principal Scientist, Process Chemistry, Merck. I currently work in a group which interfaces Discovery Chemistry with Process Chemistry. This assignment has broadened my view of pharma beyond “typical” process chemistry. Gaining experience collaborating with discovery teams and a keen understanding of the interplay between medicinal chemistry SAR processes and various preclinical study designs. Before that I focused on development, scale-up and application of chemical processes for the synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API); A more “typical” process chemistry role, supporting kilo-scale deliveries under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

What you do in a standard "work day."

Currently my typical day is a ~50/50 mix of lab-work and various administrative responsibilities. These could include on any given day:

- discovery core team meetings

- larger therapeutic area presentations/meetings

- coordinating external (outsourced) projects

- meeting with reports to assign & discuss projects

In the lab, I typically work from mg to 500g scale with most reaction performed on multi-gram scale.  We have the odd larger batch but for the most part we define routes to API for the first pre-clinical studies or key intermediates for Med Chem, developing key SAR diversification-point reactions and then scale-up. Big enough to want to be as efficient as possible, but small enough to resort to chromatography and sub-optimal processes if need be. It’s all about finding the good enough line! Though I still take pride in developing crystallizations to extract a nice white solid from dark brown goo!

During a typical day I almost always collaborate (phone, email, or physically meet) with people in other functions (MedChem, Pharm Sci, Safety, Biology and DMPK for example).  This assignment also includes playing the role of connector between the discovery and development phases of development ranging from lead-ID to First-In-Human clinical trials.

What kind of schooling / training / experience helped you get there?

I did my undergraduate studies in Biopharmaceutical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry Option), a multi-disciplinary program which included 2-3 years of biology and biochemistry.  Though I didn’t realize the potential at the time, my understanding of biochemical processes has served me well. Many chemists end up there because they didn’t care for bio… I’m glad I stuck with it.

I obtained my Ph. D. in organic chemistry specializing in transition metal catalysis. More specifically, I had the great opportunity to work on Direct Arylation (also known as C-H Activation, though I hate that term) with Keith Fagnou, just when the field was taking off (2003-2007).  This made it a very exciting time to be a graduate student.  Though my graduate training in organic chemistry is at the core of what I do as an applicant of organic chemistry in my day to day activities, I find that I learned a plethora of other vital skills I leverage every day. Here’s an example:

Keith always believed that establishing a collaborative research environment was more important than work hours and expected us to be productive during “regular” work hours. He never demanded anybody work late at night and weekend hours were optional.  If you were in the lab late or on a weekend, it’s because you wanted to be. We were all expected to support each other and help each other succeed.  This ultimately led to a group culture where the success of the team was more important than individual success.  From this incubator that was the “Fagnou Factory” I learned and developed:

1)   Teamwork

2)   Leadership & Mentoring

3)   Giving & Receiving Feedback

4)   Motivation Through Autonomy & Ownership

All of these things are essential for drug discovery & development. One of my mentors at Merck on told me “these halls are filled with great scientists, but science alone is not enough” for drug discovery & development program to succeed.

How does chemistry inform your work?

It’s at the foundation of it. I see the world through chemists’ goggles. It also affects my perception as an experimentalist. In chemistry, you can have an idea in the morning, test it in the afternoon and get your answer in the morning. That type of “just try it” attitude is how process chemists innovate. My personal rule is that if you have less than 3 steps to get to test your hypothesis, you HAVE to try. You can’t be afraid of failure.

Finally, a unique, interesting, or funny anecdote about your career

In grad-school, my friends and I were notorious for pulling the best pranks for April fools. My contribution to this went as follows: We placed an ad in the Saturday edition of the paper listing Keith’s relatively new Saturn for sale for “$1999 or best offer. Must sell fast!” Giving only his office # to call back, he returned Monday to 83 phone messages with the phone ringing about the car every 1-2 minutes all morning. Surprisingly, it took him most of the day to figure out we were to blame, as we were able to deflect his accusations convincingly. Finally after, eliminating his father-in-law or other faculty members, he broke one of us and we all had a good laugh at his expense over beers that night!

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*Honorable Mention Section*

Thanks to Deborah Blum, Science Writer / Author, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Deb writes amazing stuff like The Poisoner's Handbook and blogs at Discover's Elemental and PLoS's Speakeasy Science. Deb featured our little blog effort on Knight Science Journalism Tracker earlier today. Thanks!

Not to be outdone, champion Editor Rachel Pepling, she of the C&EN blog community (and a chemist-by-proxy), featured us on Grand CENtral. Most appreciated.

Stay tuned for a roundup post later this weekend...or whenever I get on it. (Zzzzz...)

Announcing: The Chem Coach Carnival

Do you work in chemistry?

Want to help folks interested in chemistry do what you do?

I like to think about chemistry
during timeouts.

In celebration of the 25th National Chemistry Week (Oct 21-27, 2012), I've decided to host a blog carnival called the Chem Coach Carnival. (Unfamiliar with the carnival format? Check out the "Favorite Reactions," "Toxic," and "Science Writer" carnivals)

Why the theme? After writing a tongue-in-cheek post last week, I received several comments through email, Twitter, and on the blog about an actual online repository of chemistry job success stories. Wouldn't it be nice to ask professionals questions like these?

What do you do all day? What chemistry skills do you use in your line of work? How do you move up the ladder in chemistry? What do I need to do to be in your shoes?

Here's the specifics: To keep the carnival timely - and since I didn't give a lot of advance notice (sorry!) - we'll keep posts short, about 300-500 words. If you'd like to toss in a (small) picture that helps the reader, go ahead. The general structure will be:

Your current job.

What you do in a standard "work day."

What kind of schooling / training / experience helped you get there?

How does chemistry inform your work?

Finally, a unique, interesting, or funny anecdote about your career*

The most important question to ask yourself - If I were just coming into the field, would I learn something useful from your story?

Whaddaya mean these mechanisms
aren't right?

I also want to stress that you don't have to be a blogger or writer to participate. I'd love to hear from every kind of chemist: professors, bench chemists, formulators, artists, Wall Street advisors, authors, Editors, engineers, grad students, historians, Olympiad participants, forensic scientists, safety officers, advertisers, biochemists, Nobel laureates, you name it.

Everyone is welcome.

As far as posting, you can either post on your blog and I'll link to it (preferred), or I can take your entry by email (seearroh_AT_gmail_DOT_com) and post them on Just Like Cooking. If you've posted something, send me a line at @seearroh or use the hashtag #ChemCoach.

I look forward to celebrating National Chemistry Week by reading about all your employment adventures. Thanks in advance!

*Bonus motivator - I'll be writing a post, too, but I'll only post mine after I receive at least ten entries from around the campfire. Happy writing!

Turning Over Rocks, Drawing Lines in the Sand

When I flip over a rock in the woods, I'm never quite sure what I'll find. Bugs? Fungi? A gold coin? (maybe someday...).

Turning over rocks in the dense forest of the chemblogosphere gets complicated quickly. My response to this week's chemistry-opposed Washington Post article included a barb near the end: 'correctly' stating the number of elements in the Periodic Table to counter a WaPo assertion:

"...there are 92 naturally-occurring elements, and a total of 118 spots (not all filled!) in the Periodic Table. I didn't have to Google it, because I took middle-school chemistry."

Now, of all the things I've written on this blog, I'd hardly expect this to seem controversial. And yet, within a few minutes, Stu Cantrill had chimed in, favoring 94...then 98. Blog of the Isotopes posted next, saying:

"The question is not at all easy to answer.  It depends what you mean by naturally-occurring.  I think the common meaning is "can be dug up from the ground but didn't come from man-made sources such as weapons fallout."  So, how many is that?"

Although the author didn't commit to a number, he seemed to lean towards the 94-98 that Stu had claimed. Other websites (WiseGeek, Yahoo! Answers) claim anywhere from 88 to 117!

Prof. Per-Ola Norrby weighed in via Twitter; originally favoring 90, he increased his bid to 92, and dug up primordial elements, which geophysicists peg at 84. Most recently, frequent JLC commenter gippgig argued:

"Make that 94 elements, 88 of which occur in significant amounts"

84? 88? 90? 92? 94? 117? That's a lot of different numbers for something we theoretically "know." After a while, I decided to update my original post with a dreaded tilde: the half-baked punctuation mark of the undecided.

Why rehash this rather academic debate? Because it's really important! The conversation illustrates the value of scientific discourse, where individuals find facts, bring them back to the table, and everyone weighs the information. Skeptical eyes inform conclusions - do I think that that "fact" holds water? Sam Arbesman wrote an entire book on this topic, The Half-Life of Facts, showing that research uncovers its share of "inviolable" truths we discover later just aren't so.

So we draw lines in the sand. Include radioactive isotopes? Include stellar chemistry? What's your detection limit? Measurement technique? Where's your cutoff? How many atoms?

An old joke - ask ten organic chemists what "large scale" means, and you'll get ten answers. The 2012 Chemistry Nobel Prize blurred whole fields; where do chemistry and biology divide? Do they? For my part, I'm settled in on 94 'natural' elements for now, but I could be swayed depending on further data.

Perhaps most importantly, I again recommend chemistry class to all Middle Schoolers, painful or no. Thinking through these types of problems really helps you grow, and isn't that what school is for?

Friday Fun: Chem Swords

As Stuart Cantrill pointed out on Twitter this morning, today's xkcd comic hits all the right receptors for chemistry geeks:

xkcd #1114, c. Randall Munroe

So, in four short panels, we have jokes about Sb and Ac, role-playing games, LoTR, even an olde tyme word for "spooky." Perfect!

Here are my humble attempts*

- I forged a blade from iron oxide, but it just rusted away.

Lion-O
Source: Ted Wolf / Rankin-Bass

- Next, I made a silicon dioxide scimitar; it shattered like glass.

- My 'Einsteinium Excalibur' shrunk every three weeks.

-  I have high hopes for my Osmium Sword of Omens; it roars, and dihydroxylates everything it touches!

- Magnesium Masamune: Victor Grignard's house blade.

- The neon lightsaber? Went over like a Pb balloon.

*I tossed some of these on Twitter before I sketched out the post. Please don't "Lehrerize" me for it! (Sounded better than "Breslowize")