Artificial intelligence, or AI, can be applied to chemistry, too. Here we discuss a brief history of AI, especially for chemistry, beginning with Djerassi's DENDRAL program. We talk of the current problems in chemistry to which AI is being applied over the last couple of decades. We also examine what is not doable (yet) in chemistry with AI.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

In which we consider what, really, is a chemical bond. Lewis and Langmuir promoted the idea that bonding was sharing of electron pairs. Then we hear about Slater, Hellman, and Ruedenberg's discussion of how covalent bonding works. Kossel and Lewis also introduced ionic bonding. Finally Drude and Lorentz offered metallic bonding. But there are more chemical bonds: the hydrogen bond, the halogen bond, the mechanical bond, the van der Waals force, multi-center bonds, and metallophilic bonds.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

In which we talk about the fastest spectroscopy yet, attosecond spectroscopy, which can resolve electrons moving around atoms. The topic begins with Christian Spielmann in 1997, working to get shorter and shorter laser pulses, and continues with Ferenc Krausz. We discuss what you might be able to inspect using these short light pulses, such as how the shape of atomic orbitals oscillates after ionization, how you can change the opacity of a substance for a brief moment, and fluctuations of water structure.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

Instead of molecules that absorb light based on their molecular orbitals, this episode talks of nanostructures and their materials that refract light based on interference of light waves. We start with Robert Hooke who described this process in his book Micrographia. We continue through Isaac Newton and Lord Rayleigh. We discuss Eli Yablonovitch's photonic crystals. We mention various kinds of natural structural colorants in the living and non-living worlds, from minerals to insects to bacteria to plants. Then we list several attempts to synthesize structural colorants, and why they might prove useful.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

This episode concerns the phenomenon in organic chemistry of classifying a set of similar reactions by a single umbrella name. Most named reactions honor a person, but not always. We discuss the early history of named reactions from the 1870s onward. We then talk about the slant of named reactions towards white men, and away from other people, and even whether that can be a problem for minority and women chemists. Patreon supporters may download a supplemental sheet that sketches some of the reactions I mention in the episode.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

Polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, seem to be ubiquitous now in the environment and the news. In this episode I delve into why chemists found these compounds so fascinating and useful. Then I discuss some history of how the world finally learned how dangerous these compounds can be if used and disposed of improperly. Finally I talk of some possible methods chemists are currently researching on how to remove PFAS from the environment.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

Mechanochemistry, using purely mechanical processes to run a reaction, is much less known in the chemical world, but has been around since the ancient Greek Theophrastus described a mechanochemical process. We describe the history of mechanochemistry from then through its rediscovery by Michael Faraday, and the first systematic attempts to understand it by Mathew Carey Lea. He got into a dispute with Walthère Spring over "first rights" to publication. The 20th century was when mechanochemistry was examined in great detail, both in the Soviet Bloc and then by Westerners in the later part of the century. We talk of various topics in mechanochemistry.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

In which we learn of the history of graphite, its molecular structure, and electrical properties. Then we discuss the isolation of thinner and thinner layers of graphite through the mid-to-late 20th century. The first isolation of a single atomic layer of graphite, called graphene, was accomplished in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, which set off a new flurry of chemical research, much like the discovery of buckminsterfullerene two decades earlier. Then we discuss the special properties of graphene, and what practical applications graphene has.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

With this episode, we complete our history of the discovery of the elements (up through writing this episode). We talk of elements 110 through 118, completing that row of the Periodic Table, and the various experiments that the major heavy-ion research facilities in Russia, Germany, the USA, and Japan, were doing. We begin to hear of collaboration between several groups as the difficulties of obtaining raw materials grow. The Joint Working Party, the final Decider for discovery, constantly intrudes to say "no, that's not good enough," till eventually it is.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook

In which we discuss the entry of People of Color into chemistry, mostly in the USA. We start with the first Black to get an Ph.D. in Chemistry in the USA, St. Elmo Brady, and work forward through the 1940s through the 1960s. We discuss various organizations to assist people of color in chemistry (and other sciences), such as NOBCChE, SACNAS, AISES, and the Society for Asian Scientists and Engineers. We examine a similar problem in the United Kingdom which has no independent assistance organization for People of Colour.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook