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September 8, 2010
Ancient Chemistry Comes Back to Life?
Posted by Derek
The ACS journals page has a "20 Most Accessed" list, which can be an interesting thing to examine. The current one has some articles I've read and enjoyed, such as the guide to molecular interactions that was in J. Med. Chem. earlier this year. And there are synthetic methods in there, and a review of molecular gastronomy, some total syntheses, surface chemistry, and something on wastewater treatment. All fine.
But what's the deal with all the old pyridine chemistry? There's a 1962 paper on pyridine oximes on the list, a 1955 one on pyridine mercurials, of all things, and weirdest of all, an 1897 (!) paper on pyridine periodides.
Why this stuff is showing up on the most-requested list for 2010 is a complete mystery to me. Maybe I'm just slow today, but can anyone think of a reason, since I can't?
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1. opsomath on September 8, 2010 1:15 PM writes...
CEN had an article this week featuring recent pharma research on a prodrug with an sp2 aromatic nitrogen. The prodrug form was the ArN-NH2+ salt (what is that called?) which gets reduced in the body to the free ArN species.
Maybe it has something to do with that.
Permalink to Comment2. coprolite on September 8, 2010 1:38 PM writes...
I'd wager that a big school that farms out chem courses (that other schools use for their curriculum) had a research paper/lab on pyridines. Or someone is putting a lot of effort into plagiarism/Sokal Affair-ish business. Don't knock it, though, by all accounts 1897 was a good year.
Permalink to Comment3. J-bone on September 8, 2010 2:48 PM writes...
opsomath, I think you're referring to a diazonium salt.
Perhaps a couple large research groups in this area happen to have several people writing their dissertations? Or maybe there's a special issue of some journal and authors are all using the same references.
Permalink to Comment4. Curt F. on September 8, 2010 2:53 PM writes...
I think the article referred to by opsomath is this one:
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i35/8835news9.html
It describes an "amminium" salt, not a diazonium salt.
Permalink to Comment5. MoMo on September 8, 2010 3:45 PM writes...
This is just some prank bent on wasting yours and our time. Looks like they wasted some heartbeats for all of us.
Permalink to Comment6. Martin on September 8, 2010 5:43 PM writes...
Looks to me that someone has a page up somewhere like Wikipedia with links to the old papers on it. One of my own most "hit" papers is one that's listed on a Wikipedia page, and it's _way_ undercited by "real" subsequent literature compared to web page hit counts
Permalink to Comment7. Molmechanic on September 9, 2010 12:36 PM writes...
Pyridine aldoximes (e.g. 2-PAM) are effective antidotes to chemical warfare nerve gas agents including sarin and VX. Note the authors of the 1962 paper are from the U.S. Army Chemical R&D Labs. Any nation (or terrorist group?) that stockpiles sarin would have a keen interest in having plenty of 2-PAM on hand.
Permalink to Comment2-PAM binds to the active site of acetylcholinesterase and displaces the nerve agent. For more on the mechanim of action see:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/cholinesterase/pam_medications.html
8. Kaleberg on September 10, 2010 10:42 PM writes...
It's probably because they let morons like me use the internet. I was just downloading a 1926 paper in Science which not only refuted the Michelson-Morley negative result, but actually chart the earth's absolute movement with respect to the luminiferous ether. Do you get that kind of stuff in chemistry too? It could have been an 1897 phlogiston paper complete with a structure and preparation.
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