Unlike essential oils, essential amino acids are a well named category of compounds. Referring to those that we are unable to make for ourselves and must be consumed in the diet, it was this property that was key to the discovery of the last of the twenty common amino acids: threonine. The Last Essential Amino… Continue reading Threonine, Threose, and Erythrose
Acetylene (and Hydrocarbon Suffixes)
In a previous post on this blog, I discussed the possibility for confusion among modern students of chemistry due to older, generic names of organic molecules being incongruous with the systematic naming conventions we use today. The example I used to make this point was acetone, which unlike acetic acid, acetylene, and acetaldehyde, contains three carbons… Continue reading Acetylene (and Hydrocarbon Suffixes)
Asparagine, Aspartate, Glutamine and Glutamate
There are four amino acids that are intrinsically linked by the similarity in their structures, and unsurprisingly, the stories behind their names are just as intertwined. I am of course referring to the compounds with the carboxylic acid and primary amide side chains: asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamine and glutamic acid. Asparagine Asparagine was the first… Continue reading Asparagine, Aspartate, Glutamine and Glutamate
Tryptophan(e)
The tale of tryptophan is a colourful one, quite literally. One of oldest texts we know of that is pertinent to this story dates back to 1825.1 It describes how the addition of dilute chlorine water to a preparation of pancreatic juices turned the liquid rose-red. If left to sit, violet flakes would appear after… Continue reading Tryptophan(e)
Amino Acids
“The discoverers of the amino acids are among the elite of science”. This was statement made in a 1931 review of the history of the discovery of the amino acids, and having read the stories of how each of these compounds came to be known, I cannot help but agree.1,2 Just from a technical perspective,… Continue reading Amino Acids
Systematic Nomenclature vs Common Names
Before I write too many of these posts, I thought it best to take a pause and talk a little bit about something that is going to come up a lot: the distinction between systematic nomenclature and common names, and the differing roles that they each play. A Shifting Attitude Towards Systematic Names As I’ve… Continue reading Systematic Nomenclature vs Common Names
Acetone
The terminology used by scientists of one generation can be very revealing of the misconceptions of the previous ones, and in the worst-case scenarios this can lead to these misconceptions being propagated. To put it another way, sometimes generic names for chemicals can be confusing to the student of chemistry, and only really make sense… Continue reading Acetone
Saturated Fatty Acids
Before chemists had a detailed understanding of molecular structure, newly discovered chemicals were named on the whims of the discoverers. By the end of the 19th century the number of organic molecules known to science had started to increase dramatically, and the list of unconnected names that had to be remembered was getting longer and… Continue reading Saturated Fatty Acids
The General Idea
Chemistry has its own language. As both a chemist, and a person who is fascinated by words, this is a fact that I find endlessly interesting. It is very easy for chemists to forget that some of the words we use every day are nonsense to the wider population. It is also very easy to… Continue reading The General Idea
