Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Interesting molecules

Interesting molecules

Teen Chemist - 25-7-2012 at 08:14

I thought it would be cool to create a thread for interesting molecules.
This applies to molecules that have interesting/cool/unusual:
1. Structures
2.Names
3.Appearances
4.Properties
5.Other
I know there are other threads like this such as http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=17747 but this is ment to put them all together.

[Edited on 25-7-2012 by Teen Chemist]

achem500 - 25-7-2012 at 11:02

Ethylene Oxide. It looks pretty cool and dangerous :cool:

[Thanks to Wikipedia for the picture]

kristofvagyok - 25-7-2012 at 14:29

I would suggest azulene for this "list". It is a pretty interesting molecule. In the lab where I work, someone had a research about polyfunctionated azulene compounds and she had really good results.

The structure of naphthalene and azulene:

They are both aromatic and they both consist of 10 carbon and 8 hydrogen atom, the only difference that naphthalene is more stable, so if the azulene is exposed to strong light or heat, it will isomerise "back" to naphthalene.

Pure azulene looks like this:

The rule for the colors of the azulenes: if it has electron withdrawing groups, it is much brighter (red, yellow), if it has electron releasing groups, it is darker (green, brown ect.).

And also an interesting fact about it: it has a similar odor to naphthalene and it sublimes, so never store it in a "normal" vessel!

More azulene related pictures and some info about it:
http://labphoto.tumblr.com/tagged/azulene

99chemicals - 25-7-2012 at 14:31

Crown Ether

602px-18-crown-6-potassium-3D-balls-A.png - 118kB

I found the picture from Wikipedia.

Vargouille - 25-7-2012 at 18:51

Copper salicylate. Water soluble, and has some use as an anti-inflammatory.

Teen Chemist - 26-7-2012 at 04:29

Buckminsterfullerenes aka buckeyballs

Thanks to wikipedia for pic.

FrankWayne - 26-7-2012 at 05:07

For a molecular researchers, a nice saying-
"An aeroplane is always safe on ground but it is not made for that" , so to achieve great heights it needs to take risks.
Did anyone see the molecular structure of diamond ? It is quite interesting !

White Yeti - 26-7-2012 at 05:14

Carotenoids are pretty nice. Their conjugated double bonds give these compounds nice colours and potent antioxidant activity. Speaking of which, Staphylococcus aureus produces Staphyloxanthin a potent antioxidant, which gives it the ability to survive in environments with high oxidative stress.

Teen Chemist - 26-7-2012 at 12:04

Good work so far anyone got anything more exotic.

Adas - 26-7-2012 at 12:28

TEMPO - stable free radical

DoctorOfPhilosophy - 26-7-2012 at 17:16

Helium compounds all fall into the extreme chemistry catagory, my favorites are the hydride and HgHe₁₀. Apparently the former is "the strongest Brønsted acid known, and therefore can exist only in isolation, as it will protonate any molecule or counteranion it comes into contact with." There is even a HeNe⁺ polyatomic ion.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium#Compounds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon#Compounds

triplepoint - 26-7-2012 at 20:46

kristofvagyok:

The azulenes look especially intriguing to me, but the notes on your tumblr site tell me i won't be trying this myself in the near future.

Lithium - 27-7-2012 at 17:19

6-acetyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyridine

supposedly is the culprit for the smell of bread, which, I must say, is one of my favourite smells

Endimion17 - 28-7-2012 at 05:32

Platonic hydrocarbons are cool.

Few years ago, I've been playing with ChemSketch and made them in the 3D simulator, having no idea they actually existed (except tetrahedrane) or what were their names.
The polyol derivatives might be very interesting compounds.

zoombafu - 28-7-2012 at 13:29

Quote: Originally posted by Lithium

6-acetyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyridine

supposedly is the culprit for the smell of bread, which, I must say, is one of my favourite smells

The smell of bread is amazing. I totally agree with you.

kristofvagyok - 28-7-2012 at 13:53

Quote: Originally posted by Endimion17

Platonic hydrocarbons are cool.

I know someone who synthetises cubane derivatives. Shitty chemistry with a lot steps with really low yields. And they are not as useful how they look.

Also: the polyols of these molecules would be extremely instable, maybe the cubane 1,4 diarboxylic acid is one of the most stable, but it is still not the best. If any transition metals are present near to the cubane skeleton (even in ppm concentrations) it will isomerize to cuneane.

And for the explosive fans: octanitrocubane is highly hygroscopic, so not just the price of that says that it is not an optimal explosive.

BromicAcid - 28-7-2012 at 16:03

Aluminum tetraazidoborate
Al[B(N3)4]3
"Mellor, 1967, Vol. 8, Suppl. 2, 2"
"A very shock sensitive explosive, containing nearly 90 wt% of nitrogen." From Reactive Chemical Hazards and referenced by me in this thread:

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=1172

maxpayne - 29-7-2012 at 00:29

Leuco dyes are quite interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuco_dye

Hexavalent - 30-7-2012 at 09:43

Arsole - the cyclic organoarsenic compound - just because of it's name

[Edited on 30-7-2012 by Hexavalent]

arsphenamine - 7-8-2012 at 09:59

This may be a trifle Zen but I think any compound is interesting if you look at it hard enough. Example: singlet vs. triplet O₂.

NB: tetrahedrane has yet to be synthesized although a few fully substituted ones (t-butyl and tetramethyl silyl) are out there.

feacetech - 26-8-2012 at 15:30

CHB₁₁H₁₁^-

Used to make solid super acids

Interesting article that can explain it in more depth

Attachment: strongest acid.pdf (1MB)
This file has been downloaded 588 times

[Edited on 26-8-2012 by feacetech]

Teen Chemist - 2-9-2012 at 07:35

Solvatochromic dyes are compounds that change colors in various solvents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvatochromism
A good example is Reichardt' s Dye.

[Edited on 2-9-2012 by Teen Chemist]