The Purple Planet

Could AI research assistants speed up scientific discovery?:

Could AI research assistants speed up scientific discovery? Google's Co-Scientist and Futurehouse's Robin can help scientists generate hypotheses, design experiments and analyse data

After ICPP in Kyoto – the big biennial porphyrin bash – I shall spend three weeks visiting several universities in Greater Tokyo, including The University of Tokyo, RIKEN, the Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Chiba University, meeting several collaborators and exploring the possibility of some advanced spectroscopic experiments. Happily, I found a good hotel in a good neighborhood (Shibuya) at a good price for the entire period. Hopefully, I will find at least a few days to explore Tokyo – it’s hardly guaranteed, however, as I have too many enthusiastic collaborators in the area and the temptation to meet up and discuss science will be strong. No regrets though: I am thankful for the opportunities I have! 🇯🇵🇳🇴

An 80-atom boron analogue of buckminsterfullerene has a ‘surprisingly simple’ spectrum and the team who isolated it are still working to confirm its most stable form with DFT calculations.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/boron-equivalent-of-buckminsterfullerene-finally-observed-after-decades-of-research/4023612.article?utm_campaign=organic_social&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

25 years ago click chemistry changed science. What happened next? https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/25-years-ago-click-chemistry-changed-science-what-happened-next/4023588.article

25 years ago click chemistry changed science. What happened next? Barry Sharpless and his team first introduced the concept of 'clicking' molecules together 25 years ago

Fe(porphyrin)-Catalyzed Alkene Epoxidation with NaOCl: A Practical Small- and Large-Scale Alternative to mCPBA | Journal of the American Chemical Society

Fe(porphyrin)-Catalyzed Alkene Epoxidation with NaOCl: A Practical Small- and Large-Scale Alternative to mCPBA Epoxides are important intermediates in synthetic chemistry. Stoichiometric peroxyacids, such as meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA), are widely used to convert alkenes to epoxides but show poor compatibility with aromatic heterocycles and present hazards when scaled. Herein, we report a highly pr...

Once again, I am lucky to attend the International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, ICPP14, this time in beautiful Kyoto. IMHO, the ICPPs are simply the best-organized scientific conferences that I have ever been too. As usual, it’ll be wonderful to see old friends from around the world and to meet bright, young porphyrin scientists eager to make their mark. Here are the expected attendees: http://www.icpp-spp.org/

Do we need to rethink inductive effects in organic chemistry? Computational evidence shows that polarizability, not electronegativity, better explains acidity trends

The has concluded in the beautiful Islands. Understandably, there was a large contingent from – here’s a UiT group photo from downtown . I’m returning home tomorrow, hopefully wiser, but certainly with many ideas for making my teaching and research more relevant to a fast-changing world. 🇫🇴🇳🇴