DOC Detective Work

I'd like to send some good vibes and a hearty hello to attendees at the 43rd Annual National Organic Symposium in Seattle. Wish I could be there with you guys; maybe I can 'save the date' for #44 in 2015.

While browsing around on the Division of Organic Chemistry website, I stared at the logo for one second too many, thinking "What molecule is that, anyway?"

Have you ever wondered that?

I figured that SciFinder would know best, so I searched for the exact carbon framework: Zero hits! So, it's not actually a molecule anyone's worked on. I poked around through ORGN's historical archives*, including the first N.O.S. program (1925, Rochester, NY). I perused the excellent recent review of the conference in JOC - no explanation there, either.

Let's examine a few of the other ACS Division logos. Fluorine chemistry stands out - some hand-drawn goodness representing a closed ampoule of the highly reactive gas:

Inorganic chemistry lays claim to the entire periodic table, with a lens flare for added emphasis:

My "Aha!" moment came upon viewing the coiled chain of the Polymer Division, suggestively curled back on itself to create a "P":

Go back to the DOC website, and have a peek at the tiny icon at the top of your browser tab. Here's how mine looks:

Get it? The graphic spells out the letters "D-O-C" (How had I not seen this before?!?)

Clearly, we've lost the thread of the joke due to better understanding of molecular structure. At its founding (1909), most Division members were still drawing what I lovingly refer to as the "Monopoly hotel" version of the cyclopentane ring - one bond artificially elongated to ease printing (or stenciling):

Over time, of course, we realized that a regular pentagon was a closer representation, and conformational analysis teaches that we ignore 3-D structure at our own peril. Nowadays, the more streamlined DOC logo - though structurally correct - loses the "D" flavor of the older generation's five-membered ring.

Challenge: We're still two years out from the next NOS meeting. In the spirit of olympicene, created to honor the 2012 London Olympics, perhaps someone could synthesize "ORGNANE," the presumptive hydrocarbon of our beloved logo. It's C12H22, so I doubt it's that volatile (ChemDraw predicts bp >200 deg C).

Hey SURF fellows, want to be famous? This might be the summer project for you!

*Fast fact: ORGN only claimed 1,014 members in 1948. This swelled to 16,800 by 2010, presumably due to the explosion in medicinal, polymer , and industrial chemistry research.

Close Enough for Chem - Guest Edition

Inspired by ChemBark's WWWTP series, I've asked friends of the blog to send me pictures of chemically-inclined art and logos from the wide world. Today, I bring you two more examples of so-close chemical structures.

Organo-'Catalyst' - This image, from a CT health center, contends that exercise can "catalyze" a better, healthier life. Well, that's a pretty strange-looking catalyst! Instead of your standard Pd or Ni, they've picked something approximating tryptamine. Honestly, the compounds that I think of when I see this structure don't necessarily encourage good health...

The "T" is for Texas Carbon - From a concert-goer in a college town comes this T-shirt (presented here without lifestyle endorsement). The tricyclic core of tetrahydrocannibol, an active component of marijuana, looks mostly OK, but the artist may have been under the influence when he drew that mixed-up hypervalent phenol ring!

Readers, have any more "almost" chemically-inspired photos? Feel free to send them my way!

Chem Logos - Mythical Defense Edition

Unlike most other disciplines, chemists still have one foot firmly stuck in the world of the supernatural and otherwordly (after all, only in the last few centuries did we realize that aether, vitalism, and phlostigon were all just philosophical fool's gold). Biologists don't reference the Yeti when discussing arctic adaptations, and physicists don't believe that the Earth rests on the back of a giant turtle. Chemists, meanwhile, have a periodic table brimming with legends: cobalt, vanadium, mercury, palladium, helium, and uranium all speak to our alchemical past. But, would you expect to find modern-day examples . . .on military stationery?!

"The Duck"
Credit: CNET | Dan Terdiman

Preparedness for biological, radioactive, or chemical threats falls to the JPEO-CBD, a division of the U.S. Department of Defense. Want to see all their cool scientific toys? I found this slideshow, compiled by CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman during a visit to Dugway Proving Grounds (UT) in 2009.


Due to some strongly-worded disclaimers, I won't link directly to the government pages that describe the various offices under the JPEO's umbrella. But, given the DoD's social media outreach efforts - they're on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube - I'll assume it's OK to share two program logos with the chemblogosphere.

Credit: DoD

Two mythically-inspired logos caught my eye: the Critical Reagents Program, which develops validated assays and sampling kits, displays a menacing green gargoyle, arms akimbo, with flashing red eyes. Likewise, the Contamination Avoidance program, specializing in risk assessment and recon, shows a huge, perched green dragon, with wings cupped as if to shield its young.

Credit: DoD

Therein lies the effectiveness of these two images - although the characters are legendary, we associate both creatures with protection and defense. There's also that hint of menace, a spooky warning against potential attackers. 


Should the DoD require more defensive imagery, I'm sure Batman and the Golem are standing by...

Things I Never Knew Existed, Part the Third: Beef!

Every so often, when you're looking up references for paper boilerplate, or to flesh out a new post, you come across references in other fields you've never seen before. Bonus if they have catchy titles or shiny logos.


While researching a follow-up post on pink slime, I encountered a few new-to-me food science logos.

First, we'll check out the Institute of Food Technologists. Organizations like this keep one foot in chemistry, and one in agriculture - they usually have symbols that evoke both, and this looks par for the course. Two leaves are pulverized, and then added into the test-tube shaped space between "I" and "F." (The first line on their 'about' page encourages me to "Envision what the very best minds in food science can achieve when they work together")

Next, see the American Meat Institute, whose blood- red 3-letter logo looks just like a porterhouse steak, right down to the white spaces (marbling?). I guess nothing says "meat research" quite like, well...meat. (The site includes some not-so-subtle wordplay, inviting you to "Meat AMI...")

Later, I found myself digging through piles of government info, which meant downloading public-access documents from the GPO. Not heard of it? It's the U.S. Government Printing Office, which produces forms and booklets, and helps increase federal transparency (and they run an online bookstore!).


The GPO logo is sleek and formal, with a nod towards typesetting, and an homage to the digital age in the "O." (Although that might also be an 8-bit Nintendo graphic, I'm not too sure...)

Journals I Never Knew Existed - Clocks, Bones, and Trees

Every so often, when you're looking up references for paper boilerplate or to flesh out a new post, you come across journals in other fields you've never heard about before. Bonus if they have fun or informative logos, or catchy titles.

While scribbling the last few posts, I encountered all sorts of new-to-me skeletal tissue and circadian rhythm journals. First, there's BONE, which leaves absolutely no doubt in the reader's mind what topic it will cover! This journal springs from the International Bone and Mineral Society (IBMS), whose logo possibly evokes the fine, spongy structure of the skeleton. 

Next, there's the International Osteoporosis Foundation, in operation since 1987. This has to be the first logo I've seen to both evoke exuberance, and yet somehow look just like a fractured rib. (just me?)

On the biorhythms side, there's the open-access Journal of Circadian Rhythms; I get it, with the clock and all, how meta.

Last but not least (OK, not actually a journal...), we have the Juniper Pollination Project, run out of the US Nat'l Phenology (we're not phrenology!) Network. Quite honestly, I think the art is pretty catchy, with the stately juniper and its giant, globular pollen. But the kooky, fun part has to be the satellite, complete with "zoom!" lines, soaring high overhead.

What Do You Call Yourselves?

In the "hot-potato" game of Pharma jobs, it's not uncommon to work with a whole new cast of people every 5 years or so. I recall one such summer, where I watched the director and two lead chemists change around in just 3 months!

"Hi, I'm a GSKer."
"Really? I'm Ex-BMS!"

As you mix and match with refugees from layoffs, mergers, or plant closures, you encounter chemists from many different backgrounds. Perhaps they came from a rigid corporate hierarchy, or perhaps they were "pseudo-academics." Maybe they had legions of secretaries and associates, or maybe they were "armies of one" at a small start-up. But one thing everyone has?


A cute euphemism for where they used to work.


The Old "Ex-" (Most common): Ex-Pfizer, Ex-Merck, Ex-Lilly, Ex-BMS.


"-Ers": DuPonters, Merckers, GSKers, Genentechers*


"-Ites": Amgenites, Pfizerites


Engineers: Dow.


Geography Quiz: Sometimes, chemists will tell you they're from Nutley, Wilmington, or La Jolla, and expect you to intuit their former employers.


"Initials Only" Club: J&J, BASF, B-I, AZ.


Readers, I must be missing several. Have you heard any good ones?


Update, 3/8, 2:35AM - Chemjobber suggests "Pfizer alumni," and a Twitter respondent says the preferred internal term is "colleague."

An anonymous commenter suggests "BioGoners" for Ex-Biogen employees.


*(Yes, I checked all of these out on Google, and all have >150 hits, except "Genentechers" (76), which I usually hear via FiercePharma)

Journals I Never Knew Existed

Every so often, when you're looking up source literature to write proposals or paper boilerplate, you happen across something that makes you smile. I love to chance upon journals that exist in other fields, especially ones with charming logos. 


This afternoon's search brought forth two I hadn't previously seen: First, from the IAWS Journal of Wood Science (The saw blade is really eye-catching!)

Next, the fantastic logo from the Journal of the World Rabbit Science Association (with fluffy white tail...)


Readers, have you found any interesting niche journals lately?