Dave Palmer
@davepalmerusask
Organic chemist, enzymologist, professor, cat dad. PEI ➡️ Queen's U ➡️ UIUC ➡️ USask. 🇨🇦✌️🙂 (he/him)
The Western Canadian Medicinal Chemistry Workshop is back! Come for a weekend in beautiful Saskatoon and share your work in pharmaceutical, bioorganic, biophysical and related areas of chemistry! #ChemSky
“I just wish you’d find yourself some other form of recreation” The Long Hit Summer (1958) 🎥
The manuscript tracking feature of the RSC journals is great! Anyway, happy one-month anniversary to me checking in to see this ☹️
The bobolink is known for hiding in tall grass where he can’t be seen, and making Artoo Detoo sounds. Positive ID 👂👍
Your shipment that clearly indicates that it contains glass will be fine because it’s also marked *fragile*!
Unexpected chemistry content in tonight’s movie, A Kiss Before Dying (1956)! A YOUNG Robert Wagner slips into the lab to help himself to some arsenic (in an unfathomable plan to help Joanne Woodward out of his life).
Canada Day is always a good day to look for cactus blooms here in Saskatchewan!
We also knew that the resulting products (called benzylidenepyruvates) could be converted to substituted cinnamic acids in a rapid reaction with hydrogen peroxide. When we looked at rates of reactions, the fastest substrate for the enzyme was para-methoxybenzaldehyde. 8/
A little science: I knew octinoxate was a UV absorber because I recognized the long conjugated pi-system, which can allow molecules to absorb light in the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. I started using it in class as an exercise in drawing resonance structures. 6/
Like many chemists, I read the backs of bottles to learn what's in them. Many (~20?) years ago, I looked at a bottle of moisturizer that said it was SPF 15. I saw "octyl methoxycinnamate" and knew this was the sunscreen ingredient. It also goes by the name octinoxate. Here's the structure: /5
It was brief but intense… back with the guys who wisely remained on the sofa
Went out for a little midday walk since the sun was shining. Now standing under the entrance to some apartment building waiting this out 🤷♂️ 🌧️ 😅
Here’s a brief taste of the demanding chicka-tween doing his little “I’m just a baby” wing-flutter #birds