Silversmith, ' Organic Chemistry: The Name Game', Pergamon, 1987 P. In fact the original paper had the title "Nonacyclo-docosane, a Bastard Tetramantane".Ī related cage hydrocarbon was called Golcondane by the first people to synthesis it in 1993, Mehta and Reddy, in honour of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Indian city of Hyderabad, whose ancient name was Golconda.Ī. However because it had the unusual ethano bridge,Īnd was therefore a variation from the standard types of structure found in the field of hydrocarbon cage rearrangements, it came to be known as bastardane - the "unwanted child". This is actually a close relative of adamantane, and its proper name is ethano-bridged noradamantane. Adamantane actually gets its name from the Greek adamas meaning 'indestructible', since it's the chemical building block of diamond. For those not in the know, Adam Ant was an English pop star in the early 1980's famous for silly songs and strange make-up. This molecule always brings a smile to the lips of undergrads when they first hear its name, especially in the UK. Thanks also to Thomas Jeanmaire and Alan Parker for the info and translation about phosphole. 11, (1972) 441, and another one supplied by Simon Cotton is: "Arsole metal complexes", E.W. Hauptmann, "Unusual Substitution in an Arsole Ring", Angew.
Another intriguing reference supplied by Patrick Wallace is: G. This article inspired Mikael Johansson from Helsinki University to do a scientific study into the aromaticity of arsoles, which has been published: Letts. Thanks to Neil Brookes, Nicholas Welham, Andy Shipway, Lloyd Evans, Peter Sims, John Perkins, Bob Buntrock and Ben Mills for some of the info and details about these molecules. Fausse means 'fake' or 'false', and folle means both a 'crazy woman' and a 'drag-queen' or 'ladyboy'. I'll leave this as a challenge to synthetic chemists to first try to make this compound, and then to try to get its name in the title of a paper!Īlso, the related molecule phosphole (which just replaces As with P) is quite amusing if you are a French speaker, since it's pronounced the same as ' fausse folle'. was published by authors from, of course, the University of Aarhus! I've been told that it's possible to make molecules with Se-Se bonds, so if ArSe is bonded to a selenium halide (with X representing Br, Cl, etc), then it's possible to make ArSe-SeX. Another well known poisonous arsenic molecule is the simple hydride, called 'arsine', with formula AsH 3.Īnd on a related theme, I've been told of an Aryl Selenide compound with the superb shorthand of ArSe, which is both toxic and smelly. And the structure where arsole is fused to a benzene ring is called 'benzarsole' 6 of these bonded together would be called 'sexibenzarsole' (although neither of those sexi- molecules have been synthesised yet). Incidentally US patent number US 3 412 119 by the Dow Chemical Company is entitled 'Substituted Stannoles, Phospholes, Arsoles, and Stiboles' - I didn't know there was a substitute for an arsole.įurthermore, if six of them are bonded together we can apply the prefix 'sexi', to get 'sexiarsole'. Contrary to popular belief, new research (see reference below) shows that arsoles are only moderately aromatic. Although the class of molecules with this general structure are called 'arsoles', the specific molecule shown on the right is actually called 'arsenole' (not to be confused with the London football club, Arsenal). For more information, see the paper with probably the best title of any scientific paper I've ever come across: " Studies on the Chemistry of the Arsoles", G. and it's a ring! It is the arsenic equivalent of pyrrole, and although it is rarely found in its pure form, it is occasionally seen as a sidegroup in the form of organic arsolyls. Yes, believe it or not, there is actually a molecule called Arsole. Or you can buy it online from World Scientific or Amazon.
Chemistry add in word molecules files plus#
It will include all your favourite molecules from this website, plus some extra information about them. It is available at all good bookstores, price around £18. Stop Press: Due to the popularity of this site, I've now written it up as a book, entitled ' Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names', by Paul May, published by Imperial College Press, July 2008. Information on what you need to view these structure files can be found here. The 3D structure files of many of these molecules can be obtained by clicking on the images. People from all over the world have sent me so many contributions to this page, that I've now had to split it into four smaller pages. If you know of any other potential candidates for this page, please let me know.
Here we'll show you some real molecules that have unusual, ridiculous or downright silly names. Believe it or not, some chemists do have a sense of humour, and this page is a testament to that.