Science and Arts,Philosophy and Science: Why after All? Why Not?

This perspective summarizes some interdisciplinary aspects of science and the relation to philosophy, also including the basic motivations and aims as they might be discussed with young scientists starting their careers and presented also in the form of a commencement speech. The contents of this speech were repeatedly discussed also with Jack Dunitz, who showed great interest in it, given his broad interests. The speech also referred to an earlier commencement speech by Jack Dunitz in 1989. In the introduction of our essay, we mention the early common history of science and humanities under the name of philosophy. This early history can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy and the ‘academy’ of Platon in Athens with a history of more than 1000 years until closure in 529 AD, in modern times revived as the National Greek Academy in Athens in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other ‘academies’ in Europe started in the 17th century and had publications under various names involving ‘philosophy’ with a focus on what we call science (natural science) today. After about 1800 there was increasing fragmentation of the various fields of knowledge and philosophy was considered to be part of the modern ‘humanities’ quite separate from science, and the natural sciences were fragmented into physics, chemistry, biology etc., and even finer subdivisions. The essay also describes an effort at ETH Zurich, reintegrating the various subfields of science and also stressing an education of scientists and engineers in the humanities. The essay concludes with a discussion of several global risks for mankind and a scientific imperative to maintain life on Earth. The common aspects and the foundations of all sciences as fields of knowledge aiming for an understanding of the world around us and of human beings as part of it are discussed from various perspectives.     

Isoskeletomerism as an intermediate concept for mediating between stereoisomerism and isomerism. A remedy for conceptual defects of organic chemistry

After isoskeletomerism is introduced as an intermediate concept for mediating between stereoisomerism and isomerism, so-called ‘constitutional isomerism’ is critically discussed as one of the roots of confusion in organic chemistry. The convention that isomerism is subdivided into stereoisomerism and ‘constitutional isomerism’ is concluded to be misleading, because these concepts are conceptually distinct from a viewpoint of the concepts of equivalence relationships and equivalence classes. The indifference toward these concepts is one of the conceptual defects of organic chemistry. A new flowchart for judging enantiomerism, RS-stereoisomerism, stereoisomerism, isoskeletomerism, and isomerism is discussed to generate an isomer-classification diagram, where RS-stereoisomerism and isoskeletomerism are contained as new matters for remedying the conceptual defects. Skeletons are derived from basic skeletons by three operations (the bond operation, the replacement operation, and the substitutive operation), and they are used to examine the action of isoskeletomeric relationships. Equivalent molecular entities under an isoskeletomeric relationship are collected to give a set of isoskeletomers, which is concluded to be an equivalence class. The confusion caused by so-called ‘constitutional isomerism’ and its subcategories (‘skeletal isomerism’, ‘positional isomerism’, and so on) is critically discussed from the viewpoint of isoskeletomerism as a missing link. The double-entendre of the term constitution is examined when applied to both a 3D entity (a set of stereoisomers) and a 2D entity (a graph). Taxonomy of organic compounds and rational formulas, nomenclature of organic compounds, and combinatorial enumeration of chemical compounds are discussed from the viewpoint of isoskeletomerism.     

Connecting the philosophy of chemistry,green chemistry,and moral philosophy

This paper aims to connect philosophy of chemistry, green chemistry, and moral philosophy. We first characterize chemistry by underlining how chemists: (1) co-define chemical bodies, operations, and transformations; (2) always refer to active and context-sensitive bodies to explain the reactions under study; and (3) develop strategies that require and intertwine with a molecular whole, its parts, and the surroundings at the same time within an explanation. We will then point out how green chemists are transforming their current activities in order to act upon the world without jeopardizing life. This part will allow us to highlight that green chemistry follows the three aforementioned characteristics while including the world as a partner, as well as biodegradability and sustainability concerns, into chemical practices. In the third part of this paper, we will show how moral philosophy can help green chemists: (1) identify the consequentialist assumptions that ground their reasoning; and (2) widen the scope of their ethical considerations by integrating the notion of care and that of vulnerability into their arguments. In the fourth part of the paper, we will emphasize how, in return, this investigation could help philosophers querying consequentialism as soon as the consequences of chemical activities over the world are taken into account. Furthermore, we will point out how the philosophy of chemistry provides philosophers with new arguments concerning the key debate about the ‘intrinsic value’ of life, ecosystems and the Earth, in environmental ethics. To conclude, we will highlight how mesology, that is to say the study of ‘milieux’, and the concept of ‘ecumeme’ proposed by the philosopher and geographer Augustin Berque, could become important both for green chemists and moral philosophers in order to investigate our relationships with the Earth.     

No Life on this Planet Without PHB

The history of discovery by Rosetta Reusch of oligo- and poly-β-hydroxybutyrates (OHBs and PHBs) consisting of less than ca. 150 HB units is described. These ‘short-chain’ biopolymers can be detected in all living organisms and have numerous physiological activities of fundamental importance for the chemistry of life. The largest are components of ion channels such as Ca²⁺-polyphosphate-PHB (Ca-PPi-PHB) in genetically competent E. coli and in mammalian mitochondria. Sequences with chain lengths < ca. 30 occur covalently attached to proteins (post-translational PHBylation), and methyl esters of the dimer and trimer are used by certain bacteria as highly efficient antioxidants. With synthetic monodisperse OHBs (up to 128mer) our group has contributed structural investigations, and we have shown that OHBs≥16 alone make phospholipid bilayer vesicles permeable to Ca ions. An extensive biochemical analysis of the TRPM8 protein channel, responsible for the sense of heat in our skin, proved to be fully active only when PHBylated. Reasons for the difficulty of detecting OHBs and PHBs are discussed: the polyester chain is highly flexible, and there is ester cleavage by base, acid, nucleophiles, Lewis acids, and heat – in stark contrast to peptides. PHBs may be called a ubiquitous but fleeting species in the chemistry of life – worth being appreciated and studied much more intensively in the future! A speculation about PHB's possible role in prebiotic compartmentalization is presented, and recent uses of compartmentalization in organic synthesis are briefly mentioned. Portions of the figures used herein were presented in a lecture at the International Symposium on Biopolymers on September 13, 2022, in Sion (Switzerland).     

Synthesis and characterisation of a calix[4]pyrrole functional polystyrene via ‘click chemistry’ and its use in the extraction of halide anion salts

A polystyrene with pendant calix[4]pyrroles was prepared via ‘click reaction’ strategy. First, a poly(styrene-co-chloromethylstyrene) with approximately 12% of chloro groups was prepared by conventional free radical polymerisation. The chloro groups were then converted to azido groups using NaN₃ in N,N-dimethylformamide. An alkyne-functionalised calix[4]pyrrole was then coupled to the azido-functionalised polystyrene by click chemistry with high efficiency. The resulting polystyrene with pendant calix[4]pyrroles was used to extract fluoride and chloride anions (as their tetrabutylammonium salts) from their aqueous solutions to organic media.     

Small Data Can Play a Big Role in Chemical Discovery

The chemistry community is currently witnessing a surge of scientific discoveries in organic chemistry supported by machine learning (ML) techniques. Whereas many of these techniques were developed for big data applications, the nature of experimental organic chemistry often confines practitioners to small datasets. Herein, we touch upon the limitations associated with small data in ML and emphasize the impact of bias and variance on constructing reliable predictive models. We aim to raise awareness to these possible pitfalls, and thus, provide an introductory guideline for good practice. Ultimately, we stress the great value associated with statistical analysis of small data, which can be further boosted by adopting a holistic data-centric approach in chemistry.     

Molecular Chirality in Chemistry and Biology: Historical Milestones

Beginning early in the 19th century, developments in crystallography, optics, and chemistry in France set the stage for the discovery of molecular chirality by Louis Pasteur in 1848. He found that the crystallization of the sodium ammonium salt of ‘paratartaric acid’, a mysterious ‘isomer’ of natural (+)‐tartaric acid (TA), produced two different crystal types that were non‐superimposable mirror‐image forms of each other. He separated the two types and found their optical rotations in solution opposite in direction and equal in absolute magnitude. This led him to conclude that paratartaric acid is a combination of two mirror‐image molecule types of TA that are ‘dissymmetric’, an existing term he adapted to the connotation of today's ‘chiral’. In 1857, he found that the two enantiomers of TA were metabolized by a microorganism at drastically different rates, and thereby discovered biological enantioselectivity. In 1886, Italian chemist Arnaldo Piutti discovered D ‐asparagine and found that it tasted intensely sweet, in contrast to the known L ‐asparagine which had no taste. This was the discovery of stereoselectivity at biological receptors. As a result of advances in stereoselective synthesis and enantioselective chromatography during the last decades of the 20th century, in the 1990s the importance of molecular chirality in drug action and disposition began to receive serious attention from drug‐regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry, the overall result of which has been the near‐complete disappearance of racemic drugs as newly introduced pharmaceuticals.     

Decameric uracil complexes around Li+

Electrospray ionization (ESI) in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) experiments were carried out to study decameric uracil complexes cationized with Li⁺ ion. A previous study has shown that, under specific experimental conditions, a particularly intense peak of the decamer U₁₀Li⁺ is formed, which was referred to as an indication for so‐called ‘magic number’ cluster. In order to gain more insight on the structure of this decameric complex, here, we report experimental studies concerning the kinetics of the fragmentation. In accordance with the new experimental data, structural models were constructed and fully optimized using ab initio and density functional theory quantum chemistry calculations. The theoretical study allowed us to propose a stable gas‐phase structure which is compatible with all experimental findings. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ortho-Quinols in (Bio)Synthesis of Natural Products

6-Alkyl-6-hydroxycyclohexa-2,4-dienone derivatives, commonly referred to as ortho-quinols, and their simple ester and ether variants constitute a class of organic compounds that aroused much interest amongst chemists over the past 70 years for several reasons related to organic synthesis, natural product chemistry and biochemistry. It was very early on that organic chemists understood the potential of the unique yet versatile chemical reactivity of such compounds to synthesize more complex structures, and it soon emerged that ortho-quinols could constitute key intermediates in the biosynthesis of certain natural products of various origins. This minireview discusses the chemistry of ortho-quinols from the point of view of their role in the synthesis and biosynthesis of natural products. Examples of completed syntheses of natural products mostly taken in the literature of the last 20 years or so, together with some chosen pieces from older but pioneering and most remarkable works, are highlighted to illustrate this discussion.     

How to measure long-range proton-carbon coupling constants from 1H-selective HSQMBC experiments

Heteronuclear long-range scalar coupling constants (ⁿJ_CH) are a valuable tool for solving problems in organic chemistry and are especially suited for stereochemical and configurational analyses of small molecules and natural products. This tutorial will focus on the step-by-step implementation of several 2D ¹H frequency selective HSQMBC experiments for the easy and accurate measurement of either the magnitude or both the magnitude and the sign of long-range ⁿJ_CH couplings. The performance of these experiments will be showcased with several scenarios in a range of different experimental conditions.     

Preparative mass‐spectrometry profiling of minor concentrated metabolites in Salicornia gaudichaudiana Moq by high‐speed countercurrent chromatography and off‐line electrospray mass‐spectrometry injection

Salicornia species have just been introduced to the European market as a vegetable named ‘samphire’, ‘green asparagus’, or ‘sea asparagus’. Due to its increasing attention, and associated value, minor compounds of Salicornia gaudichaudiana Moq were investigated. The use of countercurrent chromatography and mass spectrometry enabled the search for known, as well as potentially novel natural products. Their identification was achieved based on molecular weights and mass‐spectrometric fragmentation data. Low detection limits enabled the visualization of all compounds with their identification in almost real time close to the preparative countercurrent chromatography experiment. A list of known natural products from Salicornia genus guided the identification process of compounds occurring in Salicornia gaudichaudiana Moq by tandem mass spectrometry fragment comparison. The natural product classes were divided into four groups: chlorogenic acid derivatives; flavonoid derivatives; pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins; and other compounds.     

Pnictogen-Functionalised C1 Ligands: MC-ARn (n=0, 1, 2, 3)

The chemistry of transition metal carbynes, L_nM≡CR, has historically been dominated by species bearing hydrocarbyl or amino ‘R’ substituents, with other elements appearing only sporadically. In recent years, carbynes and related ‘C₁’ species bearing other main-group substituents, particularly heavier elements of the p-block, have begun to emerge. This review details the chemistry of heavier pnictogen-functionalised C₁ ligands, MCAR_n (A=P, As, Sb, Bi; n=0–3), including their syntheses, properties and reactivities, and how these are distinguished from more traditional carbyne complexes. Recent developments in the closely related phospha-isonitrile L_nM(CPR), cya-phosphide and cya-arside ligands, L_nM(C≡A) (A=P, As), are also discussed.     

Radical Alliances: Solutions and Opportunities for Organic Synthesis

The present account discusses in detail various mechanistic features of the degenerative radical addition‐transfer of xanthates and related thiocarbonylthio congeners and makes a comparison with the more classical Kharasch reactions to which it is similar in certain aspects. The xanthate group reacts reversibly with the ‘active’ radicals in the medium and is able to store them in a somewhat inactive form. This increases their effective lifetime in the medium and, at the same time, lowers their absolute concentration while regulating their relative concentration. These properties translate into a powerful carbon–carbon bond forming process, especially as regards intermolecular additions to electronically unbiased (‘unactivated’) alkenes. Most functional groups are tolerated, in particular polar functions that often require protection with other chemistries. This broad versatility is illustrated by examples where the xanthate addition to the alkene is combined with other, more classical reactions to provide a convergent, rapid access to a wide range of useful structures. Emphasis has been placed on the synthesis of open chain and more complex carbocycles, as well as on the transfer of chirality. These ‘radical alliances’ include organosilicon chemistry, the Diels–Alder cycloaddition and cheletropic extrusion of sulfur dioxide, the Claisen sigmatropic rearrangement, and the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) condensation.     

Latest News: Reactions of Group 4 Bis(trimethylsilyl)acetylene Metallocene Complexes and Applications of the Obtained Products

Recently published reactions of group 4 metallocene bis(trimethylsilyl)acetylene (btmsa) complexes from the last two years are reviewed. Complexes like Cp’₂Ti(η²-Me₃SiC₂SiMe₃) and Cp₂Zr(py)(η²-Me₃SiC₂SiMe₃) with Cp’ as Cp (cyclopentadienyl) and Cp* (pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) have been considered (py=pyridine). These complexes can liberate a reactive low-valent titanium or zirconium center by dissociation of the ligands and act as ‘‘masked’’ M^II complexes (M=Ti, Zr). They represent excellent sources for the clean generation of the reactive coordinatively and electronically unsaturated complex fragments [Cp’₂M]. This is the reason why they were used for many synthetic and catalytic reactions during the last years. As an update to several review articles on this topic, this contribution provides an update with recent examples of preparative organometallic and organic chemistry of these complexes, acting as reagents for a wide range of coordinating and coupling reactions. In addition, applications and investigations concerning reaction products derived from this chemistry are mentioned, too.     

Indole‐N‐Carboxylic Acids and Indole‐N‐Carboxamides in Organic Synthesis

Indoles are ubiquitous structures that are found in natural products and biologically active molecules. The synthesis of indoles and indole‐involved synthetic methodologies in organic chemistry have been receiving considerable attention. Indole‐N‐carboxylic acids and derived indole‐N‐carboxamides are intriguing compounds, which have been widely used in organic synthesis, especially in multicomponent reactions and C?H functionalization of indoles. This Minireview summarizes the advances of reactions involving indole‐N‐carboxylic acids and indole‐N‐carboxamides in organic chemistry, and discusses the synthetic potential and perspective of this field.     

Non-traditional pathways of extraterrestrial formation of organic compounds

The mechanisms of solid-phase reactions that have been experimentally and theoretically studied during recent decades and can be directly related to the formation of organic substances in space and their delivery to Earth and to the problems of prebiotic evolution are considered. Among these mechanisms are molecular tunneling (hypothesis of the cold prehistory of life), polycondensation of solid monomers by shock waves (problem of the delivery of organic substances to Earth by meteorites), thermal and thermal-wave explosions. and oscillations of temperature and radical concentrations in small cold particles under radiation exposure, mechanochemical explosions and autowave propagation of chemical reactions due to the positive feedback between fragile destruction of solids and reactions at freshly formed surfaces. Written on the basis of the report at the International Conference “Chemical Physics at the Threshold of XXI Century,” April 16–19, 1996, Moscow. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 409–417, March, 1997.     

Photoelectron Spectra of Azabenzenes and Azanaphthalenes: I. Pyridine,diazines, s-triazine and s-tetrazine

The experimental and theoretical basis of a recently proposed reassignment of the bands in the PE. spectra of pyridine, pyridazine, pyrimidine and pyrazine is discussed in detail. A characteristic feature of the derived orbital sequence is that it takes the ‘through-space’ and ‘through-bond’ interaction between the ‘lone pair’ basis orbitals explicitly into account. A simple parametrization of the orbital energies, based on HMO-type models for the π-orbitals and for the ‘lone pair’ linear combinations, yields excellent agreement with the observed band positions in the PE. spectra of s-triazine and s-tetrazine. Our new assignment is compared to those proposed previously.     

Structural and Configurational Dependence of the Sensory Process in Steroids

Structural modifications of testosterone and 19-nortestosterone have led to the synthesis of over 60 androstane and estrane derivatives whose sensory evaluation has allowed molecular parameters to be established for release of a ‘steroid-type’ scent. Odor perception with O-containing compounds in both classes has been found to be regioselective . Osmophoric groups at C(3) were found to be the most active and specific. Functionality at C(2) is accompanied to a large extent by anosmic defects, and O-containing substituents at C(1) and C(4) appear to affect the receptor membrane in exceptional cases. A further characteristic of the ‘steroid-type’ scent is diastereoselectivity. The odor intensity of axial 2- and 3-hydroxysteroids is far greater than that of the equatorial epimers, and epimeric hydroxy-groups in the 1-, 4-, and 5-positions lead to almost complete absence of odor. In addition, only steroids with ‘normal’ ring junctions and configuration were found to be odorants, whereas compounds with cis-junctions between rings A and B, or C and D, were found to be practically inactive, Steroids therefore folow the ‘triaxial rule of odor sensation’. The most remarkable feature of our findings with steroid odorants is enantioselectivity

1 The term ‘regioselective’ is currently used for a reaction in which formation of one structural (or positional) isomer is favored over another. For convenience we use ‘regioselective’, ‘diastereoselective’ or ‘enantioselective’ for substrate-receptor interactions in which one positional isomer, diastereoisomer or enantiomer leads to a different sensory response (in quality and/or intensity) than another.

. Whereas with C ₁₉ -steroids of the ‘natural’ enantiomeric series the perception threshold is extremely low (<6 ppb), the corresponding ‘unnatural’ enantiomers have been found essentially odorless by a panel of 30 persons. This appears to be the first reported instance of a total enantioselective response to an odorant.     

Pseudoasymmetrie in der organischen Chemie

The geometrical foundations of ‘pseudoasymmetry’ and several other related concepts of organic stereochemistry such as ‘prochirality’ and ‘propseudoasymmetry’ in two- and three-dimensional space have been explored. As a consequence some modifications of the R,S system for specification of molecular chirality and stereoisomerism are proposed.     

Development of Stable Carbanionic Substituents

During the past decade, carbon (C−H) acids depicted as ‘Tf₂CHR’ (Tf=CF₃SO₂) have attracted considerable attention as a new class of superacidic molecules, which show stronger acidity than sulfuric acid molecules. In recent years, the author has developed a synthetic methodology for such strong acids and has opened the door to chemistry of highly stabilised carbanions [Tf₂CR]⁻, which are the conjugate bases of the carbon acids. These carbanion-containing salts are stable and easy-to-handle species. Our efforts have revealed that the ionic but lipophilic characters of this type of carbanion can be used as a unique ‘substituent’ for increasing both the water solubility and the lipophilicity of organic compounds. This Personal Account provides an overview of our [Tf₂CR]⁻ chemistry, including its synthesis, structure, reactivity, and applications.