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Vomicine (left) is a poisonous molecule that gets its name from the nut Nux Vomica, which is the seed of a tree found on the coasts of the East Indies. The seeds are sometimes called 'Quaker buttons', and are a source of strychnine as well as the emetic vomicine. Similarly, vomitoxin (right) is a toxin that's produced by certain types of fungus that grow on wheat and barley. Its proper name is deoxynivalenol, but was given the trivial name vomitoxin because it caused vomiting in pigs that had eaten contaminated wheat. It must be pretty gross to make even a pig vomit... Thanks to Shawn McClements, Amsterdam NY, USA, and his high school class for suggesting this molecule.

One reason for the surprising discovery is that textbook chemistry usually applies to what we call ambient conditions. "Here on the surface of the earth, these conditions might be default, but they are rather special if you look at the universe as a whole," Konôpková explains. What may be "forbidden" under ambient conditions on earth, can become possible under more extreme conditions. "'Impossible' really means that the energy is going to be high," Oganov says. "The rules of chemistry are not like mathematical theorems, which cannot be broken. The rules of chemistry can be broken, because impossible means softly impossible. You just need to find the conditions where the energy balance shifts and the rules hold no more."

The Cold War arms race, Ancient Egyptian make-up and medieval laxatives. What do all these things have in common?

Penguinone 3,4,4,5-tetramethylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone; a two-dimensional representation of its structure resembles a penguin. This is a plant hormone which causes injured cells to divide and help repair the trauma - hence its name, and its synonym 'wound hormone'. Furthermore, if six of them are bonded together we can apply the prefix 'sexi', to get 'sexiarsole'. And the structure where arsole is fused to a benzene ring is called 'benzarsole'; 6 of these bonded together would be called 'sexibenzarsole' (although neither of those sexi- molecules have been synthesised yet). Another well known poisonous arsenic molecule is the simple hydride, called 'arsine', with formula AsH 3. Despite having a ridiculous name, the molecule is quite ordinary. It gets its name from being both a constituent of Aniba Megaphylla roots and a ketone. Ref: P.L. Majumdar, R.N. Maity, S.K. Panda, D. Mal, M.S. Raju and E. Wenkert, J. Org. Chem. (1979) 44, 2811.

DuPhos A class of asymmetric ligands for asymmetric synthesis. The name DuPhos is derived from the chemical company that developed this type of ligand (DuP, DuPont) and the compound class of phospholanes (Phos) it belongs to.

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Paddlanes are molecules which have bicyclic cyclohexane units, which look a bit like the paddles on Mississippi steamboats. THMs as a group “have been most consistently linked to increased risk of bladder cancer”, said Dr Rena Jones of the National Cancer Institute. One study attributed 5% of all bladder cancers in the European Union to THMs. There is also limited evidence to suggest THMs and HAA5s increase risk for colorectal, breast and uterine cancers, said Jones.

Hydrogels are a fascinating group of substances, not unlike supercritical fluids. However, instead of being suspended somewhere between a liquid and a gas, hydrogels are suspended somewhere between a liquid and a solid.Fenestranes A class of compounds with a "window pane motif" (the name fenestrane derives from the Latin word fenestra, meaning window), comprising four fused carbocycles centred on a quaternary carbon resulting in a twice-over spiro compound. The illustration at right shows a generic fenestrane as well as the specific example [4,4,4,4]fenestrane. Fenestranes are of considerable interest in theoretical chemistry though comparatively few have actually been synthesised. Randall, David (February 1, 2004). "Storyville: Molecular scientists have a word for it". The Independent on Sunday. London, England. (subscription required) Nozoe, Shigeo (1976). "Isolation, structure and synthesis of hirsutene, a precursor hydrocarbon of coriolin biosynthesis". Tetrahedron Letters. 17 (3): 195–198. doi: 10.1016/0040-4039(76)80013-5. This molecule is an enzyme which reacts with ATP to cleave luciferin, its substrate. This cleavage reaction causes the firey glow in fireflies and certain types of fish, hence its name.