The Absinthe Challenge
Anal Bioanal Chem (2014) 406:1815–1816 DOI 10.1007/s00216-013-7576-8 ANALYTICAL CHALLENGE The absinthe challenge Lucia D’Ulivo # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 We would like to invite you to participate in the Analytical “green fairy”, which included bohemian celebrities Vincent Challenge, a series of puzzles to entertain and challenge our van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Charles Baude- readers. This special feature of Analytical and Bioanalytical laire, and Edgar Allan Poe. Consequently, absinthe was cele- Chemistry has established itself as a truly unique quiz series, brated in poems and paintings alike. Think of The Absinthe with a new scientific puzzle published every other month. Drinker by Manet (ca.1859), Degas (1876), or Picasso (1903), Readers can access the complete collection of published just to name a few artworks that further contributed to the problems with their solutions on the ABC homepage at popularity of absinthe. http://www.springer.com/abc. Test your knowledge and tease However, the popularity of absinthe took a sudden hit when your wits in diverse areas of analytical and bioanalytical it was singled out for several psychotic effects—seizures, chemistry by viewing this collection. hallucinations, or mental prostration—all of which were In the present ‘spirituous’challenge, the legendary absinthe summarized under the term absinthism [3]. In particular, is the topic. And please note that there is a prize to be won (a the monoterpene thujone was considered the active ingre- Springer book of your choice up to a value of €100). Please dient of absinthe. As a consequence, absinthe was banned read on… in Belgium in 1905, and this example was soon followed by Switzerland (1908), USA (1912), Italy (1913), France (1915), “At the Latin festival when four-horsed chariots race on and Germany (1923).
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