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Zen and the art of molecules

Nature Chemistry volume 4, pages 142–144 (2012)Cite this article

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Michelle Francl wonders what it is that makes a molecule elegant.

The oddest scientific talk I ever gave was on the quantum mechanics of intramolecular rotation in 3-trifluoromethyl phenanthrene. The molecule's behaviour is unarguably eccentric. The trifluoromethyl rotor seems to be disordered in the X-ray crystal structure, suggesting the presence of two conformers that are close in energy. The observed disorder does not, however, stem principally from two competing minima of the rotor, instead it reflects the libration of this high-barrier rotor: the two positions observed in the X-ray solution roughly represent the limits of the libration1. But the science was perhaps the least strange aspect of the experience. For one thing, I gave the talk barefoot.

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  1. Michelle Francl is the Herdegen Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation and is in the Department of Chemistry at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010-2899, USA

    Michelle Francl

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  1. Michelle Francl
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Correspondence to Michelle Francl.

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Francl, M. Zen and the art of molecules. Nature Chem 4, 142–144 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1279

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