History of chemistry

Tova N. Williams explores the history of madder, its components and the perhaps confusing terminology that surrounds this long-known source of red colour.

Michelle Francl explores how glass revolutionized chemistry.

In 1931, Erich Hückel published a landmark paper — the seed of the now famous 4n + 2 rule for aromaticity in annulenes that bears his name. Electron counting has since been extended to other classes of compounds, resulting in a multitude of rules aiming to capture the concept of aromaticity and its impact in chemistry.

Christine M. Le takes a look at 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose and explains how this radioactive sugar could help to save your life.

Chemical synthesis typically draws on the roughly 90 elements found in nature and transforms them into fantastic things, which serve all imaginable needs of humankind. However, there are more than just these 90 elements in the periodic table. The synthesis of the heaviest elements, one atom at a time, is discussed here.

Amina Schartup relates how our understanding of methylmercury has changed in the 170 years since it was discovered — as well as some of the disasters that occurred along the way.