Crazy Chemistry

Chemistry’s not all about Bunsen burners, lab coats and that impossible periodic table. Well, it might be, but there is also a silly side. Dr Paul May has compiled the most comprehensive list of ridiculously named chemicals we’ve ever seen. Here's just a few.


Moronic Acid
This is an organic acid found in the resin of nuts in the pistachio family (Pistacia). It's of interest to people studying archaeological relics, since Pistacia resin has been found in shipwrecks and the contents of ancient Egyptian jars. We have no idea why it is called moronic acid, however, derivatives of this are called moronates, as in "which moron-ate the contents of this jar?"

Diabolic Acid
Diabolic acids are actually a class of compounds which contain hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. The name comes from the Greek word diabollo - meaning to mislead, because they are difficult to isolate using standard gas chromatography procedures. One of its inventors, Professor Klein, also thought that they had ‘horns like the devil’.

Penguinone

Penguinone
This compound’s real name is: 3,4,4,5-tetramethylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone, and it gets its name from the similarity of its 2D structure to a penguin, although it is not immediately obvious!

Megaphone
A silly name, but unfortunately a pretty ordinary molecule. It gets its name from being both a constituent of Aniba megaphylla roots - a plant in the same genus as rosewood - and a ketone.

George and Bi-George
When undergraduate James Carnahan synthesised a new cage structure, he asked his supervisor, Professor Katz, to suggest a name for it. Since trivial names are often arbitrary, he suggested ‘George’. When George is heated with rhodium it produces Bi-George!

Complicatic Acid
Sadly, not all that complicated. The name comes from the plant Stereum complicatum from which it was isolated.

Bastardane
The proper name of this one is ethano-bridged noradamantane. However because of this unusual ethano bridge, which turned it into a variation from the standard structures found in the field of hydrocarbon cage rearrangements, it became known as bastardane - the “unwanted child” - harsh, but fair.

Welshite
This wonderfully named mineral is named after an US amateur mineralogist Wilfred R. Welsh. Its formula is Ca₂SbMg₄FeBe₂Si₄O₂₀.

Magic Acid
‘Magic Acid’ is the name given to one of the strongest of the inorganic ‘superacids’. It is made by mixing antimony pentafluoride (SbF₅) with fluorosulphonic acid (HSO₃F), and it is so strong that it's capable of protonating even saturated alkanes, like methane, to produce carbonium ions - a pretty special quality in the chemistry world.

Draculin
Found in the saliva of vampire bats, this aptly named glycoprotein prevents a victim’s blood from clotting, allowing the vampire to dine heartily.

Thanks to Dr. Paul May for allowing us to use several of his silly molecules. However, there are many more, which can be seen at: www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm along with the famous Molecule of the month, which can be viewed at:

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/motm.htm

For more chemistry capers, try The Other Lab.

Or read about chemistry of another kind.

Return to the top »

Share this