In the previous post, I discussed how data associated with two of the candidates for molecules of the year – 2022 could be retrieved and then used to inspect their three dimensional structures.
13 C NMR is, generally speaking, a huge waste of time. This isn’t meant to be an attack on carbon NMR as a scientific tool; it’s an excellent technique, and gives structural information that no other methods can. Rather, I take issue with the requirement that the identity of every published compound be verified with a 13 C NMR spectrum. Very few 13 C NMR experiments yield unanticipated results.
The list of molecules of the year is out now at C&E News (but you have to have an account to view the list, unlike previous years). ♣ These three caught my eye: Electron in a cube: Synthesis and characterization of perfluorocubane as an electron acceptor ,[cite]10.1126/science.abq0516[/cite]. I have already written about this system and will not discuss it further, except to note this one topped the poll!
One of the more thought-provoking pieces I read last year was Alex Danco’s post “Why the Canadian Tech Scene Doesn’t Work,” which dissects the structural and institutional factors that make Silicon Valley so much more effective at spawning successful companies than Toronto. I’ll briefly summarize the piece’s key arguments here, connect it to some ideas from Zero to One , and finish by drawing some conclusions for academia.
Modeling ion-pair association/dissociation is an incredibly complex problem, and one that's often beyond the scope of conventional DFT-based techniques.
The topic of dicarbon, C 2 , has been discussed here for a few years now. It undoubtedly would be a gas!
Last week, I posted a simple Lennard–Jones simulation, written in C++, that models the behavior of liquid Ar in only 1561 characters. By popular request, I'm now posting a breakdown/explanation of this program, both to explain the underlying algorithm and illustrate how it can be compressed.
An (in)famous code challenge in computer graphics is to write a complete ray tracer small enough to fit onto a business card. I've really enjoyed reading through some of the submissions over the years (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4), and I've wondered what a chemistry-specific equivalent might be. As a first step in this space—and as a learning exercise for myself as I try to learn C++—I decided to try and write a tiny Lennard–Jones simulation.
Michael Nielsen and Kanjun Qiu recently published a massive essay entitled “A Vision of Metascience: An Engine of Improvement for the Social Processes of Science.” Metascience, the central topic of the essay, is science about science.
What’s a Journal For? This debate has been raging ever since preprint servers were introduced as far back as 1991!