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A E S S S L T A E A C R C I yyyyN S M S E E H C C T N IO A March 2004 Vol. LXXXII, No. 7 yyyyC N • AMERI

Monthly Meeting Theodore William Richards Medal Award to Professor John Ross

Who Was T.W. Richards? by M. S. Simon

Book Review Making Truth. Metaphor In Science, by Theodore L. Brown

Beilstein Unbound by Michael D. Gordin Call for Papers 2004 ❖ Deadline – April 15, 2004 ❖ EASTERN ANALYTICAL November 15-18, 2004 • Garden State Exhibit Center • Somerset, NJ SYMPOSIUM he Eastern Analytical Symposium is the second largest meeting in the United States dedicated to T the needs of analytical and those in the allied sciences. Please help us to make the 2004 EAS the best ever–be a part of the program by contributing your own papers for inclusion in the oral or poster sessions. To submit a contributed presentation for the 2004 EAS Technical Program, you should go to our web site, www.eas.org, and follow the instructions for preliminary abstract submission. Invited speakers should not submit preliminary abstracts to EAS, although your session organizer may request one for his/her use. All preliminary abstracts must be submitted electronically via the EAS web site at www.eas.org. The abstract submission deadline is April 15, 2004. No faxed, e- mailed, or mailed preliminary abstracts will be accepted. Please carefully review the following information, since our submission procedures have changed: 1. All preliminary contributed abstracts will be submitted electronically in 2004. No faxed, e-mailed, or mailed preliminary abstracts will be accepted. 2. The title of the presentation and the list of authors that you submit are final, and may not be changed. 3. The preliminary abstract that you submit will be considered to be your final abstract for use in the abstract book for the 2004 Eastern Analytical Symposium. 4. All preliminary abstracts will be acknowledged via e-mail. 5. Presenting authors of contributed submissions will be notified in June 2004 of the status of their abstract and its session assignment.

www.eas.org Eastern Analytical Symposium email: [email protected] P.O. Box 633 EAS Hotline: 1-610-485-4633 Montchanin, DE 19710–0633 USA EAS Faxline: 1-610-485-9467

2 The Nucleus March 2004 The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc. Office: Marilou Cashman, 23 Cottage St., Contents Natick, MA 01760. 1-800-872-2054 (Voice or FAX) or 508-653-6329. e-mail: [email protected] Who was Theodore William Richards? ______4 Any Section business may be conducted by M. S. Simon via the business office above. NESACS Homepage: http://www.NESACS.org Monthly Meeting ______5 Samuel P. Kounaves, Webmaster Washington, D.C. ACS Hotline: Richards Medal Award Meeting: Professor John Ross, Camille and Dreyfuss 1-800-227-5558 Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, “Complex Chemical, Biochemical Officers 2004 Reaction Mechanisms: Determination and Synthesis” Chair: Jean A. Fuller-Stanley Department, Wellesley College Who Designed the Richards Medal?______6 Wellesley, MA 02481-8203 781-283-3224; [email protected] By Donald Rickter Chair-Elect: Amy E. Tapper Genzyme Drug Discovery and Development Candidates for Election in 2004 ______7 153 Second Ave. Waltham, MA 02451 781-434-3518 [email protected] Immediate Past Chair: Book Review ______7 John L. Neumeyer “Making Truth. Metaphor in Science” T. L. Brown by Dennis Sardella Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital 115 Mill St., Belmont, MA 02478 617-855-3388 neumeyermaclean.Harvard.edu Beilstein Unbound______11 Secretary: Michael Singer By Michael D. Gordin (reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Heritage, Sigma RBI 2003/4, 21 (4)10-11-32-36) 3 Strathmore Rd. Natick, MA 01760-2447 508-651-8151x291 [email protected] Treasurer: Learning Beilstein______16 James Piper by A. Heyn 19 Mill Rd., Harvard, MA 01451 978-456-3155 [email protected] Auditor: Cover: John Ross, Emeritus Professor, Stanford University Anthony Rosner (photo: Stanford University) Archivist: Myron Simon 20 Somerset Rd. Deadlines: April 2004 issue: February 19, 2004 Newton, MA 02465; 617-332-5273 [email protected] May 2004 issue: March 19, 2004 Trustees: Joseph A. Lima, Esther A.H. Hopkins, Michael E. Strem, Councilors: Alternate Councilors: Term Ends 12/31/2004 Thomas R. Gilbert Mukund S. Chorghade Patricia Hamm Timothy B. Frigo Michael J. Hearn David Warr Arlene W. Light Derk A. Wierda Term Ends 12/31/2005 The Nucleus is distributed to the members of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Mary T. Burgess Patrick M. Gordon Society, to the secretaries of the Local Sections, and to editors of all local A.C.S. Section publications. Morton Z. Hoffman Lowell H. Hall Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue. Text must be received by the Doris I. Lewis Donald O. Rickter editor six weeks before the date of issue. Truman S. Light LawrenceT. Scott Amy E. Tapper J. Donald Smith Interim Editor: Mukund S. Chorghade, 14 Carlson Circle, Natick, MA 01760: Term Ends 12/31/2006 [email protected] Michaeline F. Chen Wallace J. Gleekman Associate Editors: Myron S. Simon, 20 Somerset Rd., W. Newton, MA 02465, Tel: 617-332-5273 Catherine E. Costello Howard R. Mayne Board of Publications: Patrick M. Gordon (Chair), Vivian K. Walworth, Vacant, E. Joseph Billo (Con- Patricia A. Mabrouk Alfred Viola sultant) Julia H. Miwa Barbara G. Wood Dorothy J. Phillips Michael Singer Business Manager: Karen Piper, 19 Mill Rd., Harvard, MA 01451, Tel: 978-456-8622 Advertising Manager: Vincent J. Gale, P.O. Box 1150, Marshfield, MA 02050, Tel: 781-837-0424; FAX: 781-837-8792 All Chairs of standing Contributing Editors: Edward Atkinson, ; Dennis Sardella, Book Reviews; Committees, the editor Marietta H. Schwartz, Software Reviews. of THE NUCLEUS, and Calendar Coordinator: Donald O. Rickter, e-mail: [email protected] the Trustees of Section Proofreaders: E. Joseph Billo, Donald O. Rickter, Myron.S. Simon Funds are members of the Board of Directors. Any Webpage: Webmaster: Samuel P. Kounaves, [email protected] Councilor of the American Chemical Society Asst. Webmasters: Terry Brush, [email protected] residing within the section area is an ex officio Kurt Heinselman, [email protected] member of the Board of Directors. Copyright 2004, Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc. The Nucleus March 2004 3 Who was Theodore Corporate Patrons AstraZeneca R&D Boston William Richards? Corporate Sponsors by M.S. Simon Aerodyne Research Inc. Adapted from The NUCLEUS, 1996 (3) 4 ff Cambridge Laboratories The presentation of the Theodore Amound of earth a little higher graded New England BioLabs, Inc. William Richards Medal to John Ross Perhaps upon a stone a chiselled Sigma-RBI this month recognizes ‘conspicuous name, Strem Chemicals Inc. achievement in the advancement of A daub of printer’s ink soon blurred Donors chemistry’, and we can take pride not and faded only in the choice this year, but also in And then — oblivion. That — that is Consulting Resources Corp. the many distinguished chemists who fame. Houghton Chemical Company have won this honor in past years. [See Ryan went to point out that Wat- Organix Inc. the listing in THE NUCLEUS, 1998 (2) terson, as an observer in national poli- 24]. But as we honor Prof. Ross, we tics, had developed a cynical attitude are also honoring the memory of toward self-seeking politicians, and minutes” of fame are allowed, it Richards himself. Who was this man? Ryan contrasts the impermanence of behooves us to keep alive the names The first award of what, at that reputation of such with the seekers of and accomplishments of our predeces- time, was known as the Theodore truth for truth’s sake for whom true sors in chemistry. The Northeastern William Richards Gold Medal (the fame is imperishable. With reference to Section has many great chemists, but medal is still gold, with a silver replica Richards he said, “True fame ... lives the earliest of the internationally for informal display) was made to on, not merely to perpetuate the name renowned was Theodore William in 1932. The Sec- of the individual and his accomplish- Richards. His in Chem- tion Chairman, William Ryan, intro- ments, but rather to inspire and encour- istry, awarded in 1914, was the first duced the occasion with the following age others who are serving similar given an American . quotation by Henry Watterson: ends.” He was born in Germantown in But in our age, when only “fifteen 1868, was educated at home by his mother, a poet, and his father, a marine artist. He became interested in science at the age of six when he was shown the rings of Saturn through a four inch telescope by Professor Josiah Parsons Cooke, Jr. of Harvard while the family was at Newport, R.I. At ten he was making Pharaoh’s Serpents with mer- curic thiocyanate and coloring flames with various salts. He obtained money to set up a chemistry laboratory when he was 13 by printing on a hand press, copywriting, and selling an edition of his mother’s sonnets. He was allowed to attend chemistry lectures at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and at 14 entered and studied chemistry at Haverford. He received the Bachelor of Science at 17. He went to Harvard to study under Cooke and received a Bachelor of Arts and, at 20, after a year of very difficult research in which he demonstrated exceptional experimental skills in determining the atomic weight ratio of oxygen to in water, earned the Ph.D. degree. A year in Continued on page 15

4 The Nucleus March 2004 Biography Monthly Meeting John Ross was born in Vienna, Austria, th The 850 Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the American in 1926 and emigrated to the U.S. in Chemical Society 1940. He served in the U.S. Army from 2004 ACS Richards Medal Award Meeting 1944-46. He graduated from Queens College N.Y. in 1948 and received a Thursday, March 11, 2004 Ph.D. in from Harvard Faculty Club M.I.T. in 1951. After a NSF post-doc- 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA toral year at Yale, he started his aca- demic career at Brown University and 4:30 pm Board Meeting advanced there to Professor. In 1966, 5:30 pm Social Hour he moved to M.I.T. as Professor and Representatives from Kforce Scientific Staffing Service Chair of the Chemistry Department. ACS Career Services related materials available He became the first G.F. Keyes Profes- 6:15 pm Dinner sor and served as Chair of the Faculty of the Institute, 1975-77. In 1980, he 8:00 pm Evening meeting, Dr. Jean Fuller-Stanley, Chair, presiding went to Stanford University as Profes- Pfizer Lecture Hall, Department of Chemistry sor of Chemistry, and served as Chair 2004 ACS Richards Medal Awardee: Professor John Ross, of the Department from 1983-89. He Camille and Henry Dreyfus Profesor of Chemistry, “Biochemical became Camille and Henry Dreyfus Reaction Mechanisms: Determination and Synthesis” Professor, and in 2001, became Emeri- Dinner reservations should be made no later than noon, Feb. 5th. Please call or tus. fax Marilou Cashman at 800-872-2054 or e-mail at [email protected]. Dr. Ross has held fellowships Please specify if vegetarian meal is required. Reservations not cancelled at from the NSF, the Guggenheim Foun- least 24 hours in advance must be paid. Members, $28.00; Non-members, dation and the Alfred P. Sloan Founda- $30.00; Retirees, $15.00; Students, $10.00 tion. He is a member of the American THE PUBLIC IS INVITED Chemical Society, American Physical Society, AAAS, and has served on the Anyone who needs special services or transportation, please call Marilou Cash- editorial boards of PNAS, Journal of man a few days in advance so that suitable arrangements can be made. Physical Chemistry, and Journal of Free Parking available at the Broadway garage Chemical . He is a co-author of Next meeting: April 15, 2004, Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cam- ‘Physical Chemistry’ and has pub- bridge, MA. Professor James Jorgenson of University of North Carolina, lished more than 400 articles in refer- Chapel Hill. Reception and dinner 5:30 pm, Award Meeting: 8:15 pm, Pfizer eed journals. Hall, Mallinckrodt Chemistry Building, Harvard University. Dr. Ross holds many awards and distinctions: he is a member of the National Academy of Science, Ameri- steps, and the reaction pathway. A cor- can Academy of Science; he holds relation function method leads to cen- three honorary Doctorates, from The Abstract ters of control in the reaction system, University of Bordeaux, Queens Col- Reaction mechanisms have usually the reaction pathway and mechanism. lege, and the Weizmann Institute of been established by guesswork. We The application of generic algorithms Science; he has been awarded the review some approaches to the deter- shows the possibility of synthesis of Medal of the College de France, the mination of reaction mechanisms from complexity for the purpose of accom- and the Peter designed experiments and theories. plishing tasks, as for example, the evo- Debye award from the American The pulse method leads to direct lutionary development of oscillatory Chemical Society, The Presidential causal connectivities of reacting chemical reactions in animals and National Medal of Science, and Aus- species, kinetic orders of reaction plants. ◆ tria’s highest award, The Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class. Have you seen the new NESACS website yet? Professor Ross has served on dozens of visiting committees to aca- Updated frequently • Late-breaking news, position postings demic institutions and governmental Back issues of the Nucleus archived in .pdf format agencies, as a consultant to industry, and on the Board of Governors of the WWW.NESACS.org Weizmann Institute. ◆

The Nucleus March 2004 5 Who Designed the Calendar Continued from page 20 Richards Medal? Mar 23 Dr. Mukund S. Chorghade (Pharmachem Inc.) By Donald Rickter “Fascinating Adventures in the Progress of a Drug from Conception to Commercialization” The answer is Cyrus Dallin, a sculptor Paul Revere.” Mayor Tobin took an UMass Boston, Science Building, 1st floor, who lived in Arlington, MA, and cre- interest after that; after some sad, room 89, 4:30 pm ated at least 250 works. Chemists may deplorable incidents, the statue was Mar 24 not know that he designed the cast by a foundry in East Somerville, Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Univ. of Groningen), Richards Medal to honor his friend, MA, and installed on Sunday, 22 Sep- 2003-2004 Bristol Myers Squibb Scholar, Professor Theodore William Richards tember 1940, behind the Old North “Molecular Switches and Motors” of Harvard, after his death in 1928. Church. Paul Revere, Jr., the 9-year- Boston College, Merkert 130, 4:00 pm The medal is awarded, every even- old great-great-great-grandson of the Prof. David Schuster ( Univ.) numbered year, by the Northeastern patriot, was present at the ceremony. “Topological Effects on Photoinduced Transfer Processes in Porphyrin- Section for “Conspicuous Achieve- Cyrus Edwin Dallin was born in a Fullerene Hybrids: Rotaxanes, Catenanes, and ment in Chemistry”, most recently to log cabin in Springville, Utah, in 1861. Pseudocatenanes” Prof. Stephen Lippard of MIT. He came to Boston at the age of 19 in Northeastern Univ., 129 Hurtig Hall, 11:45 am These medals have been cast from a 1880 to study sculpture. In 1886, with Mar 25 die which was unfortunately lost dur- the help of a Boston patron, he began Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Univ. of Groningen), ing changes in ownership of the studies in Paris. He returned to settle 2003-2004 Bristol Myers Squibb Scholar, Gorham Company. In 2000 and 2001 in Arlington Heights in 1900 where he “Progress in Asymmetric Catalysis based on Professor Fred Greene, with the help lived until his death in 1944. Monodentate Ligands” of Dallin descendants and of the Rob- The works by Cyrus Dallin Boston College, Merkert 130, 4:00 pm bins Library and the Dallin Museum in include the striking “Appeal to the Prof. Yoshinori Yamamoto (Tohoku Univ.) Novartis Lecture in Organic Chemistry Arlington, tracked down the original Great Spirit” in front of the Museum of MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm plaster model for the medal, and had a Fine Arts. The statues of the angel sharp, new die created. Moroni at the top of the new Mormon Mar 29 Dr. Mini Thomas (Klibanov Lab, MIT) During the recent national meeting Temple in Belmont and at the top of “Non-viral Gene Therapy: Polycation-mediated of the American Chemical Society in the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City DNA Delivery into Mammalian Cells” Boston, one of the images used for were made by Dallin. Many works MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm publicity was the statue of Paul by Dallin are now in Arlington, where Mar 30 Revere, located in the North End. Its he was one of its most famous citizens. Dr. Robert Tycko (National Institutes of Health) creation is a story of frustration and (Another was “Uncle Sam” or Samuel “The Amyloid Folding Problem: Insights from persistence. The young sculptor, Wilson, born in Menotomy (later State NMR” Cyrus Dallin, started work on the called West Cambridge and then MIT, Rm. 4-270, 4:00 pm statue in 1883 and contracted with the Arlington) on 13 Sept. 1766. He Dr. Steven Weissman (Merck Research Lab.) city of Boston, in 1885, to create a became famous as a meat-packer in “Practical Syntheses of Clinical Drug Candidates” statue of Paul Revere. There were Troy, NY. during the war of 1812.) Tufts Univ., Pearson Chemistry Building, many delays due to political shenani- You may wish to visit the Dallin 62 Talbot Ave., Medford, gans, greed and corruption. Remem- Museum in the center of Arlington, at Room P-106, 4:30 pm ber that Mayor Curley was a power in the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Mar 31 Boston politics during the early 20th Mystic Street (Route 60). It is now Prof. Glenn Millhauser (Univ. Calif.- Santa century. In 1937, Dallin was 74 years located in the historic Jefferson Cutter Cruz) old and the statue had not yet been House, which is also across the street “Why We Have Prions: Insights into PrP’s cast; he offered to sell it to the town of from the Uncle Sam monument, cre- Function as a Copper Metalloprotein” Northeastern Univ., 129 Hurtig Hall, 11:45 am Arlington for a price $10,000 below ated by a student of Dallin. See the price that Boston offered to pay. www.dallin.org. Notices for the Nucleus He became despondent and appealed [This article uses material from the Calendar should be sent to: to the governor and others. In autumn book, Cyrus E. Dallin: Let Justice Be Dr. Donald O. Rickter, 88 Hemlock St., 1939 he wrote a parody of a Longfel- Done, by Rell G. Francis (1928- ) Arlington, MA 02474-2157 low poem: published in 1976, recently serialized e-mail: [email protected] “Listen my children and you shall by the Arlington Advocate. I am hear, Of the ignoble failure of Boston grateful to James P. McGough of to rear, The greatest creation of my Arlington, a Dallin expert, for his help- long career, The Equestrian Statue of ful comments.] ◆

6 The Nucleus March 2004 Candidates Book Review Making Truth. Metaphor In Science, Theodore L. Brown for Election (University of Illinois Press, 2003) 215 pp, ISBN 0-252-02810-4; $32.50 (hardcover) in 2004 Reviewed by Dennis J. Sardella, that what passes for truth is just a *Candidates for reelection Department of Chemistry, Merkert social construct. So which is it: do we Chair-Elect Chemistry Center, Boston College, discover truth or manufacture it? Patricia Mabrouk Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 Making Truth. Metaphor In Sci- ence Marietta Schwartz Some time ago, during an interdiscipli- , by Theodore L. Brown, professor nary discussion of the relation between emeritus at University of Illinois Treasurer (known primarily – at least to the James Piper* science and theology, a humanities col- league referred admiringly to scientists reviewer – as the author of a successful Trustee “going into the laboratory to discover general chemistry text) charts an intel- Esther Hopkins* Truth” (the capital T being clearly ligent course between the two extremes by making the case that sci- Councilors/Alternate Councilors implied). That made me uncomfort- entific knowledge is mediated, requir- Susan Chiri Buta able, since, though I believe firmly that ing metaphor to describe the external Daniel Coughlin what we scientists uncover through our reality being studied. Not that scien- Tim Frigo* investigations is certainly true, I think tific truth is invented, or that the prop- Mark Froimowitz of our goals as somewhat more modest erties of matter, and the laws Tom Gilbert* than the implication of a near-Platonic describing them, are the product of Pat Hamm Hogan* “Truth” suggests. Peter Medawar arbitrary human consensus, as post- Michael Hearn* remarked that if a scientist said he was modernists argue. Brown sides with Arlene Light* going into the laboratory to apply the the realists in the culture wars, believ- Mary Mahany to discover Truth, ing, as virtually all scientists do, that Pamela Nagafuji his colleagues would think he was there is an “out there” out there waiting Leslie McGuire overdue for a vacation. The opposite, Michael Singer of course, is the postmodernist view Continued on page 8 Jean Fuller-Stanley Director-at Large GATEWAY CHEMICAL Graham Jones Gary Weissman TECHNOLOGY Sam Kouvanes David Yesair CUSTOM SYNTHESIS Nominating Committee • Pharmaceuticals Catherine Costello • Agrichemicals Ira Krull • Combinatorial Platforms Jim Quick • Competitor's Products Lauren Wolf • Intermediates Norris Award Committee • Analytical Standards Graham Jones • Metabolites David Lee J.Donald Smith PROCESS DEVELOPMENT Barry Snider • Process Evaluation • New Route Development John L.Neumeyer, Chair, Nominating ◆ Committee SPECTROSCOPIC SERVICES • LCMS (APCI and API-ES) • NMR (300 MHz) • GCMS (EI) 11810 Borman Dr • Saint Louis, Missouri 63146 314.220.2691 (office) • 314.991.2834 (fax) www.gatewaychemical.com • [email protected]

The Nucleus March 2004 7 properties of the source domain used to space as container, motion of objects, Book Review describe the observations. In addition and application of force. While one Continued from page 7 to an inevitable approximation, there is might expect that the importance of to be explored and discovered, but he also a social or cultural component to metaphors would decrease or eventu- argues that humans’ ability to envision theories, since a hearer must be famil- ally disappear as theories evolve from that reality depends on concepts iar with the source domain experience. verbal descriptions to ones based on derived from fundamental sensory (Thomson’s “Plum Pudding” descrip- mathematical descriptions, as with experiences, like movement through tion of the is meaningless to Bernoulli’s model of gas behavior space, enclosure, temporal change, someone unfamiliar with plum pud- based on the laws of physics and the interactions, transactions, and relation- ding, as is description of the Doppler idea of molecular motion (the ancestor ships. Those experiences provide the effect in terms of changing pitch for of the kinetic theory of gases), Brown categories for our thinking and lan- someone deaf from birth.) On the argues that a mathematical model guage, with less direct experiences other hand, the power of metaphors is based on a metaphor is also metaphori- necessarily described in terms of them. that, in addition to organizing observa- cal, a proposition that some scientists, Our ability to think about anything tions, they may guide future thinking especially mathematicians and philoso- beyond the pale of direct sensory by suggesting additional perspectives phers of science, might challenge. observation is unavoidably metaphori- not originally intended in the original Brown next looks at how the cal, like the languages of poetry and description. understanding of atomic structure spiritual experience. Later chapters explore the role evolved, from the work of Thomson, In outlining the role of scientific played by scientific metaphors at Rutherford and others, to the eventual metaphor, Brown points out that theo- increasing levels of complexity, from development of quantum theory. Here ries involve a mapping between a more the development of the classical notion again, familiar metaphors can often abstract target domain (experimental in ancient Greece by of Thales of Mile- lead to misapprehensions, from the observations) and a source domain tus and his successors, through its idea of orbitals as containers for elec- (ideas drawn from direct experience to resuscitation and extension by Dalton, trons, to thinking of energy changes in describe the relevant properties of the to its final triumph in the early twenti- terms of changes in vertical position, target domain). This mapping consti- eth century. Experiences drawn from as I have sometimes seen students do. tutes a metaphor whose utility depends life (“embodied experiences”) Later chapters deal with molecular upon the closeness of the mapping, and employed as metaphors to describe the models in chemistry and biology, from on the hearer’s familiarity with the properties of included causation, van’t Hoff and Lebel’s introduction of the ideas of molecular shape and chi- rality, to the development of molecular models, to the eventual extension of the container metaphor to encompass the idea of molecular cages. Powerful computers with advanced graphic capabilities have now liberated scien- tists from the constraints of mechanical models, allowing us to visualize and manipulate structures, and even dynamic processes, of hitherto unimaginable complexity in 3-dimen- sional hyperspace, depicting them in a wide range of different ways, making molecules more palpable and “real” than ever before. One might argue that this ease and immediacy of visualiza- tion has had the unfortunate effect of further obscuring the role of metaphor. Brown issues this cautionary remark: “First we must remember that any model we might use to character- ize the atom is metaphorical, whether it be that of a billiard ball, a plum pud- ding, a miniature solar system, a cloud of negative charge surrounding a posi- Continued on page 9

8 The Nucleus March 2004 Book Review of marvelous simplicities with infinite complexities. I believe that the ulti- NESACS News Continued from page 8 mate in truth and understanding is for- tive center, or a densely mathematical ever unattainable, but that human 2004 National ACS Awards description based on quantum theory. beings can deliberately create the illu- C. Dale Poulter, John A. Widtsoe Dis- Our experimental attempts to see the sion of understanding by recognizing tinguished Professor of Chemistry at atom [emphasis mine] as it is all and applying the simplicities in a use- the University of Utah, is to receive the involve approaches that relate observ- ful way. We need not be embarrassed Award in Physical ables to the atom via one or more mod- at the illusory nature of our under- Organic Chemistry, which is spon- els. Thus, the images they yield are standing as long as it serves a useful sored by our Section. Poulter has done necessarily metaphorical. We don’t purpose and we do not indulge in self- pioneering work on NMR of transfer ever ‘see’ atoms. The images we deception. More power to those who RNA. After a B.S. degree in Chemistry obtain are indeed based on a stable prefer to challenge their intellects by from Louisiana State University he mind-independent reality … One is attempting to unravel the infinite com- received a Ph.D. in 1967 from the Uni- moved to think ‘Surely we are really plexities, but I think they should be versity of California at Berkeley. He seeing the atoms here!’ What we see careful neither to expect to win nor to was a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA for are constructs that at their best repre- convince themselves they have won.” two years before he joined the Univer- sent reliable models of reality, with (p. xxiii) sity of Utah faculty. He has won sufficient verisimilitude to serve as To quote Brown again (speaking numerous awards in the past. He is a productive metaphors. They facilitate of atoms and molecules), “What we past editor of Chem. Letters and J. correlations, predictions, and interpre- see are constructs that at their best rep- Org. Chem.. The award will be pre- tations of other data and stimulate the resent reliable models of reality, with sented at the Anaheim ACS meeting creative design of new experiments. sufficient verisimilitude to serve as later this month. ◆ That is all we can hope for.” (p. 99) productive metaphors. They facilitate Succeeding chapters focus on sys- correlations, predictions, and interpre- Brown has a fluid and accessible writ- tems of interacting molecules and tations of other data and stimulate the ing style, and whether or not you find processes in cells, and ultimately creative design of new experiments. his thesis convincing, Making Truth global warming. Here the metaphors That is all we can hope for.” makes for thought-provoking and move away from simple embodied That is also not all that bad. worthwhile reading. ◆ experiences to more social ones, like transactions and factories. For exam- ple, the metaphor of “chaperone mole- cules”, initially proposed to describe the role of small proteins in preventing incorrect interactions between histones and DNA, progressively broadened as it was extended far beyond its original context – an illustration of metaphors’ power not only to describe, but also to direct future thinking. An interesting question, which Brown does not address, is the extent to which the abil- ity of socially based metaphors to con- vey meaning and to suggest extensions is transferable across widely different cultures. He makes a compelling case for the view that all scientific knowl- edge is ultimately metaphorical, there- fore limited. Thus, the scientific grail of developing a “theory of everything” is illusory and ultimately futile. R.T. Sanderson made a similar point in the introduction to Simple Inorganic Sub- stances: A New Approach, Krieger Publishing Co. (Malabar, FL, 1989): “It seems to me that nature con- sists of an elaborate intercommingling

The Nucleus March 2004 9 Call For Papers Career Fair The 6th Annual Northeast Student Chemistry Northeast Student Chemistry Career Fair Research Conference Friday, April 23, 2004 Saturday, April 24, 2004 Brookline Holiday Inn Boston University, Photonics Center 1200 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA REGISTRATION $5 (payable at door) REGISTRATION FREE! Undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students Schedule: in all areas of chemistry welcome! 8:30am-9am Continental Breakfast Present your research, share ideas, and get feed-back 9am-12pm ACS Career Services workshops on from your peers! resume writing and interviewing skills We are honored to have: Welcoming Remarks by 12pm-1pm Buffet Luncheon Dr. Charles P. Casey, National ACS President 2004 1pm-5pm Job Fair – Meet with representatives Keynote Speech 2004 by from Northeastern region chemical Dr. Stephen Lippard of MIT companies about employment oppor- tunities Student oral presentations (abstract deadline April 1, 2004) For details, directions, and registration, please visit the Student poster presentations (abstract deadline April 8, 2004) Northeastern Section Younger Chemists Committee For details, directions, registration, and abstract submission, website: www.nsycc.org. ◆ please visit the Northeastern Section Younger Chemists Com- mittee website: www.nsycc.org. ◆ Seminar “Chemical Safety: A Proactive Approach to Chemical Management and Security” A2-Day Seminar entitled “Chemical Safety: A Proactive Approach to Chemical Management and Security” will be offered, on April 21-22, 2004 at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell Campus. With a special focus on Green Chemistry, this course will help demystify making sound economic decisions for the environment and worker health and safety. The toxicity of solvents in the workplace and the community is well established. This course will not only help to explain the reasons for this toxicity, but offer prac- tical solutions for these chemicals’ replacement in light of the Precaution- ary Principle. Tuition will be $ 450.00. For additional information please contact, Carole LeBlanc, Ph.D. Tel.: 978-934-3249 Fax: 978-934-3050 www.cleanersolutions.org, www.turi.org ◆

10 The Nucleus March 2004 Hans Hübner. Fittig noted Beilstein’s Beilstein Unbound pedagogical gifts in his diary, By Michael D. Gordin “He also stands before the labora- tory students in a proper but good Reprinted, with permission, from high marks, and headed abroad upon relation; he tells them jokes and Chemical Heritage, 2003/4, 21(4)10- graduation at age 15. anecdotes... and allows the differ- 11, 32-36 In Germany, Beilstein traveled to ence between teacher and student to Friedrich Konrad Beilstein is the most most of the prestigious educational vanish completely. The students like famous scientist you have never heard centers for the modern chemist. He this, as well as his joviality; his of. Unless, that is, you are a chemist, in finally obtained his doctoral degree at sharp humor makes him their dar- which case he is the most famous sci- Göttingen under Friedrich Wöhler in ling. 1 am in this respect entirely entist you know nothing about. “Beil- February 1858, a few days shy of his different, and I will happily admit stein”—a name constantly on the lips 20th birthday. Thus armed with aca- that I am abrupt, that I am too much of every practicing organic chemist in demic credentials, he traveled to Paris a teacher, too schoolmasterly.” the world—is a book, the Handbuch and worked in Adolphe Wurtz’s labo- Beilstein’s teaching style, how- der Organischen Chemie, a reference ratory. Paris resolved Beilstein on an ever, was site specific. Away from Göt- work that contains accurate informa- academic career, and he assumed a lab- tingen, it would become harder to tion about the properties of all known oratory assistant position in Breslau in maintain. organic compounds, keyed with such autumn 1859, under the fearsome The Göttingen trio also had outlets information as their boiling and melt- charge of Carl Jacob Löwig. Breslau, outside the classroom. In 1865 they ing points, specific gravity, and deriva- and particularly Löwig’s dismissive assumed editorship of the Zeitschrift tives. attitude towards his students, were not für Chemie, founded in 1858 by But who was Beilstein? Consider- to Beilstein’s taste. In 1860 Wöhler August Kekulé and subsequently ably more is known about others offered Beilstein a better position as an brought almost to ruin by Emil Erlen- whose names are less often on our assistant in Göttingen. meyer’s demagogic editing practices. lips—say Humphry Davy, Robert Bun- Beilstein’s main duty was practi- The new editors turned the Zeitschrift sen, Dmitrii Mendeleev, or Linus Paul- cal laboratory instruction, which around, and the experience had an ing. The chemist himself ventured a placed heavy demands on the peda- important impact on Beilstein. First, brief autobiography (omitted here) that gogue’s time. Nevertheless, his six editorship involved correlating and stressed pedagogy: who trained him, years in Göttingen can be considered processing diverse chemical in- where he trained others, and what texts the most scientifically productive and formation; moreover, the Zeitschrift he published to that end. Let us take socially happiest of his life. Beilstein functioned for roughly a decade as the Beilstein at his word and home in on engaged in a series of seminal studies only regular publication outlet for his pedagogical story. that expanded the credibility of August Russian chemists, facilitating the con- Kekulé’s structure theory: he demon- stitution of a Russo-German chemical Beilstein In Germany: Student, strated that various organic compounds community. Yet the happily advancing Teacher, Editor previously considered isomers were in juggernaut of the Zeitschrift ground to Beilstein’s paternal line hailed fact the same compound, by showing a complete halt in 1871, when it faced from Darmstadt, and his mother’s line, that their properties were identical. As staggering competition from the newly the Rutsches, originated in Baden. His Beilstein wrote to Kekulé: “My critics established organ of the German great uncle, Konrad Rutsch, was a reproach me for having accomplished Chemical Society, the Berichte der Protestant from the small village of little of real significance along this Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, Dühren, which he left at age 16, set- line, but it was necessary to show founded in 1868. An added problem tling two years later in St. Petersburg beforehand that there is only one ben- was an increasingly nationalistic atti- in 1810. There he opened a grocery zoic , that benzyl chloride and tude towards publishing, especially store roughly two blocks from the chlorotoluene are different, and so evident among the Russians — a fact Winter Palace. In 1838 Konrad died, forth, before these could bring to your Beilstein lamented on several occa- turning his business over to his niece theory that range and that significance sions. He complained to Erlenmeyer in Katharina Margarete Rutsch and her which it had from the beginning.” This April 1871, “What is to become of us, husband, Karl Friedrich Beilstein. Our research established Beilstein’s reputa- when each city produces its own jour- Beilstein was the first of their seven tion as a gifted organic chemist. nal, where one must seek out one’s bit children (five boys, two girls), most of Beilstcin’s magnetic personality of chemistry under dust, garbage, and whom retained their status as German soon made him the center of a trio that mouse droppings.” The knowledge citizens. He was educated at the included his fellow assistants Rudolph produced by European chemists Protestant St. Petrischule in St. Peters- Fittig, an inseparable colleague (at one needed to be centralized and system- burg, where he received extremely point they shared an apartment), and Continued on page 12

The Nucleus March 2004 11 far from ideal. Founded in the late Göttingen]. What kind of nonsense Beilstein Unbound l820s to train civilian engineers, it fea- there is here under these conditions! I Continued from page 11 tured high teaching loads and apathetic had to give up being an academic atized, or it would be lost. students. Unlike St. Petersburg Univer- [Gelehrter] and am a schoolmaster Beilstein’s prowess made him a sity, which was on the Neva near the [Schulmeister] in the harshest meaning pedagogue in high demand. In April Academy of Sciences, it was located of the word.” 1865 St. Petersburg University south of the city center— too marginal Beilstein perforce abandoned his attempted to hire him, and Wöhler for daily academic interaction. Further- collegial Göttingen teaching style and heavily lobbied ministers in Hannover more, the university, which was origi- organized his laboratory “militarisch.” not to let such a prize teacher go. Göt- nally focused by statute on the modeling it on Löwig’s Breslau lab- tingen offered to make Beilstein an humanities, was experiencing a renais- oratory, which he had hated while extraordinary professor at the ripe sance of natural scientific work after there. “How painfully I feel this biting young age of 27 and threw in a sizable Alexander II promulgated a new contrast I don’t need to tell you. salary to boot—which Beilstein statute in 1863. This intellectual shift Although I live here in the circle of my accepted after failing to wheedle simi- explains in part why Mendeleev, who family, I still feel the greatest home- lar blandishments from Petersburg. He held posts at both institutions from sickness for my old laboratory and my couched his acceptance in pedagogical 1867 to 1871, gradually moved his old students.” terms, “No place has offered more and base of operations from the institute to Because there was no proper text- better opportunity than here in Göttin- the university. In essence Beilstein was book, Beilstein wrote his own, the gen ... Nowhere have I found such a hired to teach analytic and organic Anleitung zur qualitätiven Analyse pure scientific sense as here and chemistry in an institution that had (Instructions for qualitative analysis), nowhere are the students as industrious long been neglected. Hardly a second published in the late l860s. This slim as here. I put specifically a great deal Göttingen. volume attempted to integrate recent of weight on the last point. We We get an excellent sense of the innovations in analytic chemistry in a chemists achieve very little ourselves, frustrations of Beilstein’s initial posi- format useful for the unskilled student. and only what we achieve through our tion at the institute in a letter he wrote It was organized as a set of instruc- students is actually valuable.” to the Russian chemist Alexander M. tions. The first 20 pages or so walk the At this point no one actually believed Butlerov (then at Kazan) in November student through such basic procedures Beilstein would abandon his alma 1866. One major frustration was as titration and heating so as to stan- mater, but that assumption could not Mendeleev’s neglect, “Perhaps the tid- dardize techniques and basic reagents: have been further off the mark. ings have not yet reached you in the what happens when you carbonize a Far East that I have now decided to substance, you moisten it, you put it to Back To Russia: The St. Petersburg move to Petersburg. I am Mendeleev’s a flame, you dissolve it, and so on. The Technological Institute successor at the Technological Insti- remaining 30 pages explicitly show In 1864 Beilstein had joked in a letter tute. That is no small affair, when I tell what the student is to do when pre- to Kekulé, “You won’t believe how you that my predecessor—who, as you sented with an unknown substance. much you have risen in value here know, is not really a practical You first take part of the substance and [since you left Germany for Belgium] chemist—never bothered with the add water. If it dissolves, then move to …. What a big shot you will be, if they work of Praktikanten and went at most step 5; if it does not, try sulfuric acid, draw you back to Germany. I con- for a few minutes into the laboratory then move to step 7, and so on. In this stantly wish to become a professor of every 1/4 of the year. He was in such a fashion, the student should eventually chemistry in Peking or in the Sahara rush to get Chancel and Gerhardt [a be able to identify the substance quali- desert. Then I should make it difficult textbook—the Prècis d’analyse chim- tatively. for [August] Hoffmann to compete ique by Gustav Chancel and Charles The book’s absence of a formal with me!” Gerhardt] translated, without bothering theoretical framework made it to consider progress in analytic chem- uniquely adaptable to different coun- Beilstein would soon get his wish. istry in the least. This book was shoved tries and across major theoretical and In 1866, a year after he turned down a into the hands of each Praktikant, and experimental divides. Published simul- better offer, he took a position at the then he was discharged with a bless- taneously in Russian and German, the less prestigious Technological Institute ing.” Anleitung consequently went through in St. Petersburg. Beilstein’s father had The teaching loads were also high, six editions and was translated into died somewhat suddenly at the age of “How hard it is for me to introduce Dutch, English, and French. 56 in April 1865, and his family discipline and order will be clear to Mendeleev As Beilstein’s Bête Noire needed him. In June 1867 he even gave you immediately when I add that in Meanwhile, Beilstein became a up his German citizenship and became one crowded room there are visible member of the St. Petersburg a subject of the tsar. presently—175-—-yes, yes—175 men chemical community. He was awarded The Technological Institute was working! [as opposed to 80—85 at

12 The Nucleus March 2004 the Lomonosov Prize of the Academy 1882 the Academy of Sciences would have looked at me disapprov- of Sciences in 1876, served as consult- awarded Bellstein himself the very ingly.” ant for the Ministry of Finances on same chair, citing his contributions to Beilstein did not plan from the patent questions from 1867 on, and the chemistry of the oil industry. Antic- first to write a comprehensive refer- was president of the chemical section ipating nationalist objections, the nom- ence work. Ever since Göttingen, he of the Russian Technical Society. He inators declared: “We also remind you, had been gathering material on organic nonetheless felt scientifically isolated that F. K. Beilstein is a Russian sub- compounds for teaching purposes and in Petersburg. A big part of the prob- ject, a native of St. Petersburg, where checking its accuracy. Only after he lem was Mendeleev. While in Göttin- he received his education, and that he realized the need for an updated gen, Beilstein could paper over their commands the Russian language organic textbook in Russia did he mutual dislike. Right before his move fully.” Butlerov, as chemistry academi- begin to organize that material, origi- Beilstein wrote Mendeleev to thank cian, now decided to blackball Beil- nally for a textbook. He wrote Erlen- him for “all of your kindness [in] nam- stein at the meeting of the General meyer on 22 February 1878, “I have ing me your successor at the Institute.” Assembly of the Academy on 5 March now earnestly gone about carrying out He also warned that “I will at first of- 1882. Of the 27 academicians present, a plan that I have had in mind for a ten make you sick of me. Moving to a Beilstein received 17 votes, one shy of long time, I am actually writing an new circle of activity, I will he obliged the necessary two-thirds majority. He organic chemistry. Now I am in a lot of to often ask for your advice and help.” would not receive his chair in technol- trouble. As I have all the material com- But when Beilstein saw the con- ogy until after Butlerov’s death in pletely gathered before me, so I hope sequences of Mendeleev’s neglect at 1886. that I can be done with the writing in the institute, any goodwill dissipated. After 1880, Beilstein’s isolation about 2 years. Now I am already in the Yet ignoring Mendeleev was diffi- from the mainstream of Petersburg 2nd year of work & have only gotten cult, and it became utterly impossible chemistry was almost complete: to glycerin.” on 11 November 1880, when Mendeleev’s growing status after his Two impulses finally drove him Mendeleev was denied the chair in rejection made the Russian capital away from the textbook model, a self- technology at the Academy of Sci- uniquely inhospitable for the displaced imposed stricture “to monitor all cita- ences, by a single vote. Butlerov, who Göttingener. Among all Petersburg tions myself” and a desire for had joined St. Petersburg University in chemists of distinction, and as a found- completeness. The result, “What I have 1868, had been trying to get him a seat ing member of the Russian Chemical written so far is actually more a catalog for years. This public rejection sparked Society to boot, Beilstein was unique of organic chemistry rather than a text- a massive outcry from Russian in not being recognized by the society book .... For the purpose of looking chemists. Nikolai Menshutkin, secre- in any substantial administrative or things up it is entirely excellent.... But tary of the Russian Physico-Chemical honorary capacity. In 1903, under the with reading it is something else. The Society (formed in 1878 when the new charter of the academy, Beilstein story comes out too dry.Time is loom- societies of physics and chemistry even lost an election to Aleksandr Zait- ing upon me, however. If I want to combined), asked colleagues to sign a sev, a Kazan chemist who never make everything also nice and easy to protest, which he planned to publish in attended a single meeting. Two-time digest, I will be done in 5—6 years & a local newspaper. On the grounds that president Mendeleev, on the other that is too much for me. I don’t have a newspaper was an improper forum, hand, was elected honorary president that much of my life to spend.” Beilstein—the only chemist to do so— for life in the l890s. Beilstein got the Excerpts from a speech on this 33- refused to sign, arguing that the society message. year effort, given to the Russian should instead honor Mendeleev at its Physico-Chemical Society in 1893, next meeting. Even though he was Beilstein Bound: The Handbuch convey his obsession with complete- overtly supportive of Mendeleev’s can- The Handbuch is not thought of as ness, “I began to read Liebig’s Annalen didacy, it was presumed that he failed a Russian text. After both world wars, correctly [only] from its 101st volume. to sign was because he was “German,” for example, it was held up by German Then I had to reread all 100 volumes. and thus an affiliate of the supposed chemists as a testament to the good in Then I had to look through the entire “German party” that was widely (and German culture. Beilstein’s systemati- Jahresberichte der Chemie in order to erroneously) believed to have orches- zation atoned for other sins. Yet in an convince myself that nothing had been trated Mendeleev’s rejection. In the often-quoted letter Beilstein declared, missed. On the appearance of each midst of a broad newspaper campaign “Truly, I could only have written my new guide to chemistry I compared its in support of Mendeleev, only one Handbuch in Russia, and thus I have content with my notes, and in the event substantial article— published in Ger- deferred calls back to Germany. At a of a disagreement— which happened man—attacked Mendeleev’s qual- Russian polytechnicum professors rather often—I had to check with the fications. Many attributed the don’t have to be scientifically active, original articles. I had to rework the anonymous article to Beilstein. because the students don’t give any factual part, but when this was done, Injury was added to insult when in reason for it, but in Germany they Continued on page 14

The Nucleus March 2004 13 and compounds covered have con- the same dais to hear Mendeleev Beilstein Unbound tinued to grow exponentially.) intone such an endorsement. Beil- Continued from page 13 Despite the role his Russian situa- stein’s Handbuch, the rejection of both organic chemistry had again moved so tion played in the creation of the his Petersburg pedagogy and his far forward that it was necessary to Handbuch, in revising it for a second Petersburg peers, was extolled in their redo everything over again.” edition, Beilstein turned his back on midst. This process of constant revision the Russians who had spurned him. He For Further Reading forced him to order the material by wanted it to continue as a cooperative empirical formula alone. (The “Beil- venture, and so he petitioned the Ger- Hjelt, E.; Friedrich Konrad Beilstein, stein System” the organizing principle man Chemical Society in Berlin, snub- Ber. Dtsch.Chem.Ges.1907, 40, 5041- behind today’s Handbuch, was insti- bing his local peers entirely in favor of 5078. tuted only in 1909). an “international” (read “German”) Huntress, E.H.;.The One Hundredth To create the demand for his infor- community. This was quite a transfor- Anniversary of the Birth of Friedrich mation among chemists less conver- mation for the chemist who since the Konrad Beilstein (1838—1906). J. sant with structure theory than today’s, 1860s had been a booster for Russian Chem. Educ 1938, 15, 303-309. Beilstein distilled into a small intro- science. The German Chemical Soci- Kratz, O., ed. Beilstein-ErIenmeyer: duction basic theoretical principles ety eventually adopted the Handbuch Briefe zur Geschichte der chemischen derived from textbooks by several emi- in 1896, and after the third edition’s Dokumentation und des chemischen nent chemists, among them Erlen- appearance and Beilstein’s death in Zeitschriftenwesens; Werner Fritsch: meyer, Gerhardt, Kekulé, Leopold 1906, it moved there entirely. Munich, 1972. Gmelin, and Hermann Kolbe. There he Praise for the text was, however, Richter, F.; ed. 75 Jahre Beilsteins dated the history of organic chemistry international. Richard Meyer wrote to Handbuch der Organischen Chemie: from Wöhler’s synthesis of urea in Erlenmeyer in 1882, “I use Beilstein’s Aufsätze und Reden; Springer Verlag: 1828, to show that there are chemical book daily; it became immediately Berlin, 1957 (as opposed to vitalist) reasons to treat indispensable; but there is a mass of Friedrich Beilstein, Gedanken zur hun- organic chemistry separately. Beilstein errors in it! One has to go to the origi- dertsten Wiederkehr seines then provided a framework within nal articles every time; but what is Geburtstages, Angew. Chem. 1938, 51 which to interpret the data in his com- good is that you can find them quickly (7), 101-107. pilation, beginning with quantitative through the book.” Even the normally organic analysis—. determining the gruff and nationalistic V. V. K. F. Beilstein, sein Werk und seine exact composition of organic mole- Markovnikov was enthusiastic about Zeit: Zur Erinnerung an die 100. cules—before moving on to how their “Beilstein’s wonderful reference Wiederkehr seines Geburtstages, Ber. 1938, 71A structure might influence their proper- book,” and P. P. Alekseev in Kiev com- Dtsch.Chem. Ges. , 35-71. ties. His system was still incomplete, mented, “I am now studying Beilstein Shmukvich, L.A.; Musahekov, I.S.. “As we look over the system of and Kekulé. Beilstein’s book is really a Fedor Fedorovich Beilstein, 1838- organic chemistry as it currently capital production.’ Perhaps the most 1906; Nauka: Moscow, 1971. appears, we still note many holes.” But personally satisfying review was the Michael D. Gordin is an assistant pro- this was the incentive he offered to letter sent by Henry E. Armstrong, fessor in the Department of History at potential users of the Handbuch, president of the Chemical Society of Princeton University, where he teaches “Ground yourself in basic principles, London, to congratulate the Russian history of science and history of Imper- and then you can develop the science Chemical Society on its 25th anniver- ial Russia. He received his doctorate of organic chemistry in defined direc- sary on 6 November 1893. In a state- from Harvard University, where he is a tions, filling in those holes.” ment addressed to Mendeleev, he member of the Society of Fellows. His Beilstein published his Handbuch wrote, book, A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii in 1881—1883 in two volumes com- “Our Society is proud to have Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Peri- prising 2,200 pages and 15,000 organic enrolled your name in its list of foreign odic Table, is due out from Basic compounds. The second edition grew members and to have welcomed you as Books in April 2004. to three volumes, and the third to four. one of its Faraday lecture[r]s; and the All editions were edited by Beilstein roll also includes the name of Beil- A longer version of this article was alone or, in the case of the third, with stein—which, however, is no longer written for “Training Scientists, Craft- only supplementary assistance. (By the mere name of an individual but a ing Science:’ a conference organized in 1981, on the 100th anniversary of the household word and one which cannot 2002 by David Kaiser of the Program Handbuch, the staff of the Beilstein be mentioned without the feeling of in Science, Technology, and Society at Institute in Frankfurt stood at 160. gratitude arising in the chemists’ MIT. The conference was supported by Since 1981 “Beilstein” has been pub- mind.” funding from the Spencer Foundation, with additional support from the NSF lished exclusively in English, as is The ever-sarcastic Beilstein must ◆ today’s online version and both staff have smiled internally from his seat on and from the Provost’s Fund at MIT.

14 The Nucleus March 2004 from uranium and from non-radioac- whom he assigned the study of the Who Was TWR? tive sources advanced acceptance of electrochemistry and thermochemistry Continued from page 4 the theory of , the only of amalgam cells. Richards rejected the Europe on a Harvard fellowship gave conclusive evidence until the develop- belief of that day that atoms were him the opportunity of studying analyt- ment of the mass spectrograph. incompressible, developed evidence ical techniques at Göttingen and visit- He was always respectful to those that atomic volumes change, and, ing important laboratories in Germany, on whose shoulders he was standing, according to Lewis, very nearly dis- France, England, and Switzerland. He J.J. Berzelius and J.S. Stas, pioneers in covered the third law of thermodynam- returned to Harvard in 1889 as an atomic weight determination, but when ics in his studies of the relationship of assistant and remained there for the his superior methods showed that the changes in free energy and total energy rest of his years. When Cooke died, in Stas values had to be revised, he took accompanying a reaction. His inven- 1892, Richards, already an assistant the mantle on his own shoulders. A tion (with G.S. Forbes and L.J. Hen- professor, was sent to Ostwald at modest man, only after searching dili- derson) of an adiabatic calorimeter led Leipzig and Nernst at Göttingen to gently for his own possible errors to studies of specific heats of , prepare himself to become the instruc- would he conclude that the Stas work bases and salts, heats of solution and tor in physical chemistry. His rise to had to be superseded. dilution, heats of neutralization and the full professorship at Harvard in 1901 He was guided to success by “his thermochemistry of organic com- came quickly, when Göttingen ability to foresee all sources of error pounds. attempted to recruit him. and possible calamities which the aver- His laboratory attracted students His early work centered one what age investigator would have over- from many other countries to learn the at the time was one of the major sci- looked completely”, reported his methods of the Harvard school. His entific problems, that of determining son-in-law, James B. Conant. ability to devise methods which could exact atomic weights. He explained his Richards put it thus, “Every sub- give superb results in the hands of stu- choice, “not merely because I felt more stance must be assumed to be impure, dents led to volumes of published competent in that direction than in any every reaction must be assumed to be research. The list of his students other, but also because atomic weights incomplete, every method of measure- includes many of the most capable seemed to be one of the primal myster- ment must be assumed to contain some physical chemists of the first half of ies of the universe. They are values constant error, until proof to the con- the twentieth century. which no man by taking thought can trary can be obtained. As little as possi- At his death in 1928 the North- change. They seem to be independent ble must be taken for granted.” eastern Section appealed for funds to of place and time. They are silent wit- It is illuminating to consider that set up a memorial and, with ‘gratifying nesses of the very beginnings of the much of his work was conducted in response’, raised a sum of ten thousand universe, and the half-hidden, half-dis- Boylston Hall, where his laboratory dollars in a few months. The Theodore closed symmetry of the periodic sys- had been a stockroom, where the iron William Richards Gold Medal was tem of the elements only enhances sashes of the fume hood rained rust, designed by Cyrus Dallin, a distin- one’s curiosity about them. Moreover, and a flood on the floor above caused guished sculptor and friend of among the many properties possessed the ceiling to collapse on him; where Richards. A more complete account of by an element, the atomic weight fumes from elsewhere in the building the career of Richards may be found in seems one of the most definite and pre- could ruin his experiments. Finally, the a lecture delivered by Sir Harold Hart- cise. Hence in trying to satisfy a desire Wolcott Gibbs Memorial Laboratory, a ley and recorded in the Journal of the which had as its object the discovery gift of Dr. Morris Loeb, was built in Chemical Society (London), 1930, of more knowledge concerning the 1912 and Richards had the facilities his 1930-1968, from which much of this fundamental nature of things, one nat- work deserved. article was taken. Other sources urally assigns to the atomic weights an The concentration on atomic include the Encyclopedia Britannica important place.” weights suggests that Richards was and The NUCLEUS. The Scientific In the following years Richards solely an analytical chemist. Indeed, he Work of Theodore William Richards is and his students (if we include inde- was a superb analytical experimental- the title of a Ph.D. dissertation by pendent work of Baxter and ist, but his work in other areas of phys- Sheldon J. Kopperl, U. Wisconsin, Hönigschmid, who had been trained ical chemistry formed an important Madison, 1970, 333-359. ◆ by him) determined the atomic weight part of the total picture. His work of 55 of the 92 known elements, in began at the period when physical many cases in parts per ten thousand, chemistry was aborning; van’t Hoff, in some, parts per hundred thousand. Arrhenius, Ostwald, Nernst were the All of the elements whose atomic new names and the Zeitschrift für weights were the basis for determining Physikalische Chemie was founded in the atomic weights of other elements 1887. Richards’ first student in physi- were determined. His work on lead cal chemistry was G.N. Lewis, to

The Nucleus March 2004 15 DIRECTORY Learning “Beilstein” SERVICES By Arno Heyn

When I was a student at the University now, with computer retrieval, the of Michigan, one of the required work-rooms look very different. courses was “Chemical Literature,” During the war, Edwards Brothers, taught by Byron Soule, who also had a firm specializing in reprints, received written the textbook: Library Guide for the order from the Enemy Property the Chemist, McGraw-Hill; New Custodian to reprint many German sci- York, 1938. This was a demanding entific and technical publications. course, requiring lots of hands-on work Since this was wartime, there was a in the chemistry library. In 1939 when cloud of secrecy over the enterprise. I took this course, there were no com- Prof. Soule was put in charge of the puters, Internet, search engines, etc. So scientific and technical supervision of using “Beilstein” required learning a the reprinting of chemistry works, rather involved system: We learned among them Beilstein. When books are Custom Synthesis of Chemicals about the “principle of latest position,” printed in “signatures” (16 pages at a On-time Delivery, Quality, & Competitive Price that compounds are listed in order of time), there are of course over-runs, Tyger Scientific Inc. decreasing saturation, the order of non- and one signature will run out before 324 Stokes Ave, Ewing, NJ 08638 Phone (609)-434-0144, Fax (609)-434-0143 functional derivatives, the “taking others, so that the extra signatures are www.tygersci.com, Email [email protected] apart” (on paper) of more complicated left. These could not be discarded and We help chemists develop billion dollar products compounds by “anhydrosynthesis.” were given to Prof. Soule where they Thus, for instance, C2H5OCH3 would accumulated in huge piles in his office. be listed under the components Since I had befriended Dr. Soule, he obtained by adding a molecule of invited me to collect together volumes water: C2H5OH + OHCH3, and using of Beilstein from the left-over signa- the principle of latest position, it would tures. Of course, none of these vol- be listed as a functional derivative of umes were quite complete: one or two C2H5OH. 16 page sequences were missing. I Formula indices were available, punched them and bound them but the time delay between the main together with shoe-laces. Actually, not volumes and index volumes was sev- being an organic chemist, I rarely had eral years. Also, Beilstein was woe- occasion to use them, and after a cou- Chemical Solutions for fully out of date, i.e. 10-20 years ple of moves discarded them after the the Life Science Industry elapsed between the original literature war. Custom Organic Synthesis description and when it finally At about the same time, it became Process Development appeared in the Handbuch. apparent that polycyclic structures, Contract R & D Now with computer retrieval, it is were woefully out of date in Beilstein. Pharmaceutical Intermediates a whole new game, and, I presume, Because of their interest in these poly- Medicinal Chemistry Support Beilstein is available on line by sub- cyclic natural compounds, (estrogens, Biotechnology Specialty Reagents scription. Obviously, being enor- etc.) Elsevier started the Elsevier Ency- Solid Support Reactions mously labor intensive, the printed clopedia which loosely followed the Process Validation Beilstein volumes were very expen- Beilstein system, but covered the more Gram to Multi-Kilogram Synthesis sive, and I am sure this must also be recent literature of these particular true of the subscription for the comput- structures. However, Elsevier ran out erized retrieval. of steam and the volumes were When I was in Frankfurt in about absorbed as part of the Beilstein Hand- 1980, I visited the Beilstein Institute buch. ◆ and saw the very extensive space taken up by the library and work rooms where the work was being done by the Have you looked at the NEW PolyOrg Inc. large staff. The Gmelin Institute, NESACS website? 10 Powers Street, Leominster, MA 01453 which puts out the equivalent work in Phone: 978-466-7978 1-866-PolyOrg Inorganic Chemistry is in the same WWW.NESACS.org Fax: 978-466-8084 [email protected] building complex. I am sure that by www.polyorginc.com

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18 The Nucleus March 2004 BUSINESS DIRECTORY

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CONTACT PATRICK GORDON 781-932-0169 [email protected] Index of Advertisers Advanced Synthesis ...... 16 Am. Instrument Exchange...... 18 Chemic Laboratories ...... 17 Chemir Analytical Services...... 17 Chemo Dynamics ...... 9 Dana Lipp Imaging...... 17 Desert Analytics Laboratory...... 18 DuPont Analytical Solutions ...... 19 Eastern Analytical Symposium ...... 2 Eastern Scientific Co...... 4 Front Run Organx...... 18 Gateway Chemical Technology...... 7 HT Laboratories, Inc...... 18 Huffman Laboratories, Inc...... 17 Impact Analytical, Div. of M.M.I...... 17 J. S. T...... 17 Jacquline M. Arendt, Esq...... 18 Mass-Vac, Inc...... 8 Micron Inc...... 18 NuMega Resonance Labs...... 17 Organix, Inc...... 18 Organomed Corporation...... 16 PolyOrg Inc...... 16 Prime Organics...... 18 Quantitative Technologies, Inc...... 19 Robertson Microlit Labs...... 10 SBH Sciences, Inc...... 18 Schwarzkopf Microanalytical ...... 18 Scientific Bindery...... 19 Spectral Data Services, Inc...... 16 SPEX CertiPrep...... 17 Tyger Scientific, Inc ...... 16 Waters Corporation...... 17 Yasui Seiki Co...... 18

The Nucleus March 2004 19 avr,M 01451 Harvard, MA 19 Mill Road

Mar 8 Tufts Univ., Pearson Chemistry Building, Prof. Jeffrey D. Winkler (Univ. of Pennsylvania) 62 Talbot Ave., Medford, Organic Seminar Series Room P-106, 4:30 pm “Synthesis of Natural and Unnatural Products” Prof. Patrick T. Mather (Univ. of Connecticut) Boston College, Merkert 130, 4:00 pm Polymer Colloquium, “Shape Memory Liquid Prof. Timothy F. Jamison (MIT) Crystalline Elastomers” “Total Synthesis using Cascades and Selective UMass Lowell, Olney Hall, Room 218, 3:30 pm Catalytic Multi-component Coupling Reactions” Mar 15 Brandeis Univ., Edison Lecks Building, Prof. Igor A. Kaltashov (U Mass - Amherst) Gerstenzang 122, 3:45 pm “When the Mass Does Not Matter: Unorthodox Bristol-Myers Squibb Symposium: Gerald F. Uses of Mass Spectrometry Joyce, Ph.D. (The Scripps Institute), to Study Protein Structure, Dynamics, and “It’s a Wonderful Life: The in Vitro RNA Function” World”; Leslie Orgel, Ph.D. (The Salk Institute Brandeis Univ., Edison Lecks Building, for Biological Studies), “The Prebiotic Origin of Gerstenzang 122, 3:45 pm the RNA World”; Carl Deciccio, Ph.D. (Bristol- Prof. Amy Keating (MIT Biology Dept.) Myers Squibb) “Combinatorial Interactions of the bZIP Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, Transcription Factor Leucine Zippers: 12 Oxford St., 2:30 – 5:45 pm Measurements and Predictions” Spring Biological Chem. Seminar Series, MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm Debparah Perlstein (MIT, Stubbe Lab) “Yeast Ribonucleotide Reductase: in Vitro and in Mar 16 AMERICAN CHEMICAL

U.S. POSTAGE PAID Prof. Jay Groves (Univ. of Calif., Berkeley )

OPOI ORG. NONPROFIT Vivo” NORTHEASTERN MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm “Molecular Pattern Formation and Signal SOCIETY SECTION Transduction at Intercellular Synapses” Mar 9 Tufts Univ., Pearson Chemistry Building, Prof. David Vandenbout (Univ. of Texas) 62 Talbot Ave., Medford, “Single Molecule Studies of Rotational Motion Room P-106, 4:30 pm in Systems near the Glass Transition” MIT, Rm. 4-270, 4:00 pm Mar 17 Harvard/MIT Inorganic Chem. Seminar: Prof. Mar 10 Robert Cava (Princeton Univ.), Frank H. Westheimer Lecture and Medal: Prof. “Chemical and Physical Characterization of the Albert Eschenmoser (Lab. fuer Organische Cobalt Oxide Superconductor Na0.3Co02 Calendar Chemie, ETH, Zurich; and The Skaggs Institute 1.3H2O and Related Phases” for Chemical Biology, Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, The Scripps Research Institute), 12 Oxford St., 4:00 to 5:00 pm Check the NESACS Homepage “The Quest for a Chemical Etiology of Nucleic for late additions: Prof. Jimmie Doll (Brown Univ.) Acid Structure” Theoretical Chem. (BU, Harvard, MIT) http://www.NESACS.org Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, MIT, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, Rm 36-156, Note also the Chemistry Department web pages 12 Oxford St., 4:15 – 5:30 pm 3:00-5:30 pm for travel directions and updates. For example: Prof. Seth Brown (Notre Dame Univ.) http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/ Prof. Ashok Cholli (U Mass -Lowell) “Alkene Activation by Osmium Nitrides” “Biocatalytically Synthesized Opto-electronic http://www-chem.harvard.edu/events/ MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm http://www.umassd.edu/cas/chemistry/ [new url] Polymers and Nanocomposites” http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chem/ Dr. Irache Visiers (Computational Chem., Northeastern Univ., 129 Hurtig Hall, 11:45 am Millennium Pharmaceuticals) Mar 3 “Use of Molecular Modeling for Pharmaceutical Mar 18 Prof. Scott McLuckey (Purdue Univ.) Drug Design” Harvard/MIT Phys. Chem. Seminar: Prof. “Protein Identification/Characterization via Northeastern Univ., 129 Hurtig Hall, 11:45 am Geraldine Richmond (Univ. of Oregon), Benchtop Tandem Mass Spectrometry “Water at Hydrophobic Surfaces” of Whole Protein Ions” Mar 11 Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, Northeastern Univ., 129 Hurtig Hall, 11:45 am Mark A. Jandreski, PhD (Bayer HealthCare) 12 Oxford St., 5:00 – 6:00 pm “Issues in Serological Tests for Hepatitis B and Buchi Lecture in Organic Chemistry: Prof. Peter C” Mar 22 Leadlay (Univ. of Cambridge) American Assoc. for Clinical Chemistry, Prof. Roger S. Rowlett (Colgate Univ.) MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel, “Is Nature Stuck in a Rut? Convergent Waltham at 128 Social: 6 pm; dinner, 7 pm; Evolution of the Carbonic Anhydrases as Mar 4 lecture, 8 pm Revealed by Site-Directed Mutagenesis of the Buchi Lecture in Organic Chemistry: Prof. Peter beta-Enzyme” Prof. Jon Clardy (Harvard Medical School) Leadlay (Univ. of Cambridge) Brandeis Univ., Edison Lecks Building, Chemical Biology Seminar Series MIT, Room 6-120, 4:00 pm Gerstenzang 122, 3:45 pm “DNA-Based Approaches to Natural Products” Prof. George Flynn (Columbia Univ.) Boston College, Merkert 130, 4:00 pm Eli Lilly Symposium: Prof. Gregory Fu (MIT), “STM Investigation of the Self-Assembly of “Palladium-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions”; Woodward Lecture Series in the Chemical Chiral and Achiral Molecules at Liquid -Solid Prof. Michael J. Krische (Univ. of Texas), Sciences; Phys. Chem. Seminar: and Solid-Vacuum Interfaces: Driving Forces for “Enones as Latent Enolates in Catalysis: Dr. Christopher Murray. (IBM), 2-D Separation and Organization of Molecules Discovery of Catalytic C-C Bond Forming”; “Nanocrystals and Nanocrystal Assemblies: Tufts Univ., Pearson Chemistry Building, Dr.Robert W. Armstrong (Eli Lilly), “Challenges Building with Artificial Atoms” 62 Talbot Ave., Medford, in Drug Discovery.” Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, Room P-106, 4:30 pm Harvard Univ., Pfizer Lecture Hall, 12 Oxford St., 4:00 to 5:00 pm Dr. Steve Fossey (U.S. Army Natick Laboratory) 12 Oxford St., 2:30 –5:45 pm Polymer Colloquium, “Atomistic Modeling of Prof. Robert Langer (Massachusetts Institute of Stereoregular Technology) Continued on page 6 Poly (Methylmethacrylate)” “Materials for Drug Delivery and Tissue UMass Lowell, Olney Hall, Room 218, 3:30 pm ”