Stinky:
As you go down the group, the smells only get worse. You don't smell oxygen (you're soaking in it), sulfur compounds tend to be pretty stinky, selenium compounds are pretty rank, and purportedly, tellurium compounds are the worst....
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Posted on April 10, 2008 9:00 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
As far as I know, selenocysteine is the only reason you need selenium in your diet (which you almost certainly get enough of; the requirement is vanishingly small,...
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Posted on April 9, 2008 11:15 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Butyric acid has been covered obliquely before - it's part of the nice-smelling amyl butyrate (which is eau de Juicy Fruit, pretty much). On its own, though, it's a foul vomit-smelling liquid (the Wikipedia article, however, notes that some intrepid...
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Posted on March 3, 2008 11:59 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
DDQ is a benzoquinone derivative with some electron-withdrawing substituents, making it a bit more potent:...
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Posted on November 29, 2007 10:51 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Pyridine is simply benzene with a nitrogen substituted for one of the CHs:...
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Posted on September 24, 2007 8:25 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
See, you're ahead of the curve when you MoTD. A story about popcorn lung came out today, and just last week, ConAgra announced they were removing diacetyl from their buttered popcorn....
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Posted on September 5, 2007 7:24 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hydrazine, H2N-NH2 is the nitrogen analogue of hydrogen peroxide:...
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Posted on August 23, 2007 7:21 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
At the blog's previous location awhile back, I covered an oligoamine; spermine - which helps to compact DNA in cells. Spermine isn't volatile enough to smell much, but a shorter amine, putrescine, is....
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Posted on July 3, 2007 7:54 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
At the blog's previous location awhile back, I covered an oligoamine; spermine - which helps to compact DNA in cells. Spermine isn't volatile enough to smell much, but a shorter amine, putrescine, is....
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Posted on July 3, 2007 7:54 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ammonium carbonate is analogous to the other bicarbonate and carbonate salts you see - baking soda. In the presence of acid; or just sufficient heat, it will offgas ammonia and carbon dioxide, hopefully leaving pleasing bubbles in whatever you're making....
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Posted on February 23, 2007 9:08 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
