ChemBark
@ChemBark
Followers
11,573
Following
349
Media
200
Statuses
2,726
News, Analysis, and Commentary for the World of Chemistry and Chemical Research. The site is maintained by Paul Bracher ( @ChemBarkPaul ).
St. Louis, USA
Joined August 2010
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
LINGORM PANTENE FASHION SET
• 299490 Tweets
Manchester United
• 197820 Tweets
MISAMO
• 193333 Tweets
#CDTVライブライブ
• 164846 Tweets
Ten Hag
• 128668 Tweets
Man Utd
• 120314 Tweets
Tyler
• 113538 Tweets
AVANTLESDÉBUTS X SAROCHA
• 111480 Tweets
Ruud
• 71339 Tweets
Rodri
• 63708 Tweets
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
• 51622 Tweets
#Fes蓮ノ空ラブライブ地区予選
• 48312 Tweets
#Oneパイア
• 41171 Tweets
Xavi
• 34562 Tweets
#ぱかライブTV
• 27417 Tweets
पप्पू यादव
• 26957 Tweets
INEOS
• 21679 Tweets
frank ocean
• 21024 Tweets
#超特急でAwAAwAしようぜ
• 18728 Tweets
Now or Never
• 18298 Tweets
エンティーム
• 17583 Tweets
MADEIN
• 12451 Tweets
新シナリオ
• 10831 Tweets
The future of poster presentations is now. I’m at a conference. There’s a room full of poster-sized touch monitors. You can call up your poster and interact with items and zoom into boxes. Visitors can also quietly browse all posters alone. It’s all electronic. No more printing.
30
121
787
Orgo friends! As the academic year begins, this is just a friendly reminder that every major organic text gets the nomenclature of alkenes and alkynes wrong. IUPAC updated the rules in 2013, but our texts have not followed. Here's an easy way to fix your course materials...
24
71
447
A short thread on disability in chemistry and some food for thought. Again, I hate to be the one writing this. I'd much rather someone else did it so I could just retweet, but here we are... (1/12)
14
177
434
It's fine to wonder how legendary PIs thrived as major bullies in chemistry decades ago...
...but it's better to stop worshipping bully PIs in chemistry today. Stop inviting them to give talks and stop giving them awards. Speak up. Don't humor them. Warn junior scientists...
8
50
293
My wife and I met online. She was attracted to me because I was a man of Science. She left me when I became a man of Tetrahedron Letters.
5
15
304
If you think the toxic culture of organic chemistry needs to improve, consider giving fewer honors and invitations to PIs who built their careers on the broken backs of their students and more to PIs who offer their students’ helping hands.
3
40
293
To all those suddenly reticent PIs who, in June, were blasting Hudlický and the lack of diversity in organic chemistry, don’t you think that the iniquitous demand of long work hours could be part of the problem?
2
49
273
Never underestimate the value of a well-rounded, liberal arts education.
22
24
288
Ok, I’ll say it… This letter is polluted by an undercurrent of hypocrisy in that some of these PIs are quite familiar to students as purveyors and beneficiaries of the toxic culture made manifest in the Hudlický essay.
16
32
256
I am surprised that this tweet has received over 900 likes and over 350 retweets without anyone having challenged its assertion that the toxic culture of organic synthesis has been “all but eradicated”.
A message to the
@scrippsresearch
chemistry community from
@DonnaBlackmond
and Phil regarding the
@angew_chem
essay posted here for anyone interested on Openflask:
23
288
866
7
65
247
I know humanities majors are probably cheaper, but publishers really need to dish out the extra cash when it comes to hiring people to curate online homework systems.
16
19
238
Darth Vader is one of the very few characters in film to portray just how effective and valuable we as disabled people can be to our organizations when supported with the proper adaptive equipment and other reasonable accommodations.
4
46
214
My thoughts are with those speakers (typically, grad students and postdocs) who will be giving talks tomorrow at ACS Chicago to near-empty rooms. It’s not your fault, and you deserve better.
14
5
206
I am no longer a member of the
@AmerChemSociety
because I now believe this organization does more harm than good to our field. Its iniquitous publishing model that drives librarians and faculty at smaller institutions mad, its absurdly unjustified executive compensation...
12
37
208
You know what I really miss? Two-page
@J_A_C_S
communications. This format made it easy to keep up with the literature in areas that were not my primary interest. The authors worked hard to distill their major advance to an economy of prose and a few key figures. They were great.
9
7
205
My favorite prank is from grad school, where a classmate from the Jacobsen Lab wrote a full fake JACS comm in proper format and loaded it on the ASAPs page, convincing his labmate that the Trost lab had scooped his enantioselective synthesis of quinine. I still have the PDF.
Hello
#chemtwitter
- do you know of any good chemistry April Fool's pranks or stories? I'm thinking of writing an upcoming
#Newscripts
column about this for
@cenmag
. Please RT.
38
23
34
6
8
204
First-Year Grad Student: "Do you have any challenging synthesis projects?"
Assistant Professor at Scripps:
1
14
205
With the Kitty Lawyer story in the news, here is my old account of blowing a Skype interview for a professor position because I appeared as the same kitty (in 2012).
It was a DEFAULT setting on Dell's webcam software.
6
64
187
Well worth sharing this again. An absolute treasure.
Evans' Chem 206 (Advanced/Graduate Organic) notes
1
31
196
That molecule is properly named 4-ethenylheptane.
This important news did not seem to travel to my friends or the people who publish organic chemistry textbooks. So, to my horror, I have been misleading hundreds of students for the past 7 years with antiquated rules.
7
8
180
I really would like to see JACS release stats on desk rejects broken down by investigator and institutional demographics.
I think the community is owed this.
8
12
187
My PhD advisor acted supportive but really wasn’t.
One night, I called him to report a tank of chlorine was leaking. He told me to relax and take a few deep breaths.
6
8
172
Instructors of organic chemistry who are interested in updating their lecture materials on alkene nomenclature to reflect the latest changes to IUPAC preferences are welcome to download a relevant slide deck (pptx or pdf) here (near top of page):
7
29
172
M.G. Finn now maybe the chemist closest to two Nobel Prizes without winning one.
4
25
179
Look, Harry Gray is nothing less than a fucking treasure. He is the most enthusiastic and supportive scientific mentor I’ve ever experienced or even heard of.
7
18
184
Just a reminder to all you remaining ACS members that this gentleman is one of the people making over $1M/year at this “non-profit” publishing house and software company masquerading as scientific society.
After nearly 8 years of service,
@AmerChemSociety
CEO Thomas Connelly will retire at the end of 2022. During his tenure, his accomplishments include the continued growth of the ACS's portfolio of journals and refinement of the organization's core values.
1
3
11
10
29
158
If you began by identifying the longest chain *containing the double bond* and said 3-propylhex-1-ene or 3-propyl-1-hexene, you and I would have agreed last month.
That is when I learned that IUPAC changed its nomenclature rules all the way back in 2013 (!)
12
11
156
I can’t remember who’s talk it was, but I will always remember the wonderful line,
“That first week, we had collected enough data for three papers: a communication, a full article, and a retraction.”
1
16
162
Now is probably a good time to remind everyone that the ACS is not a scientific society so much as a publishing house where the revenue is used to enrich ACS employees with compensation packages beyond what is customary for a nonprofit organization.
7
23
141
Virginijus Šikšnys has everyone beat as far as most gutting desk rejection of all time.
6
59
152
I observed this relationship between a few labmates in graduate school but we called it something else.
0
19
145
If the pandemic and social distancing have got you down, considering purchasing hydriodic acid from
@SigmaAldrich
for a quick pick-me-up. It’s the friendliest reagent around.
4
27
141
Every year on the first day of classes, my wife snaps a photo on my way out the door. Happy Academic New Year to everyone who celebrates!
8
2
138
CV/résumé tip: be sure to note “extensive experience with in silica methods” if you use glassware
3
7
145
I woke up at 3 am. I have a recurring nightmare where I’m in the lab finishing an extraction and can’t find sodium or magnesium sulfate anywhere. I hate wet dreams.
9
13
143
If you’re going into organic chemistry for the colors, please don’t. I can send you a pair of my underwear and save you 5+ years of pain in grad school.
"there's so many colors in organic chemistry!!!!"
The colors:
43
102
1K
14
9
134
E.J. Corey is going to be pissed when he finds out who people think is the "greatest thing to happen to organic chemistry"
8
3
137
Excited to share that twins Corey House Bracher (Fig. 1A) and Woodward Hoffmann Bracher (Fig. 1B) were born on Monday afternoon near ChemBark World Headquarters in St. Louis.
13
2
134
Students: Come. To. Office. Hours.
Lecture is like trying to distribute food from the rafters of a supermarket to 100 people waiting below. At office hours, I can get a good look in your basket to make sure you've got all the ingredients you need and your eggs aren't cracked.
4
18
133
Look, I have a Ph.D. in chemistry. I can tell when two people belong together.
4
10
123
Look around your departments. How many labs have hoods that could be used by someone in a wheelchair? How many have NMR instruments that are accessible? Would your boss have tolerated someone chronically ill who could not work 8+ hours/day? Would you?
4
21
124
The trouble with writing synthesis problems for exams after chapter 23 in our organic text is that some students find a “creative” way to use Pd coupling reactions for every C-C bond formation. I end up staring at the page wondering how the Heck I should grade it.
7
3
120
It feels *so* much better when a benevolent chemist who is genuinely supportive of students and colleagues is awarded a Nobel than when they give it to a notorious, taskmaster a—hole.
1
11
118
Very sorry to learn of the death of David Evans (
@daddydog22
). I had the privilege of serving as one of his teaching fellows for Chem 30 at Harvard. As I stated in the Acknowledgments section of my dissertation, his lecture notes are an academic treasure.
4
19
115
There’s a ton of chemistry teachers out there that are having a bigger impact on students than they think they are. Especially so during trying times like the present.
There’s a TON of Twitter
#chemistry
teachers that think they are having a bigger impact on kids than they actually are having. You really are NOT that influential. Really, you’re not. Trust me.
#chemed
#apchem
#apchemistry
9
1
10
10
4
116
Someone needs to learn Hund’s rule and the Pauli exclusion principle.
1
9
117
Students in orgo: now is the time of year you are studying IR spectroscopy. It uses some funny terms (e.g., wagging, rocking, etc.). This is an animation of scissoring. Please be careful searching the web for additional information on scissoring...
6
15
115
It's heartbreaking what is happening to
@cenmag
. A team of the highest-quality science journalists is being decimated by management, and the mission of the publication is being perverted away from journalism and toward a banal house organ, the extent of which remains to be seen.
5
25
114
It is not credible for administrators to claim their institution values teaching and research equally when their research faculty have a pathway to tenure while their teaching faculty do not.
3
12
105
@hholdenthorp
@nytimes
@nyuniversity
Is it even true that "Organic chemistry is typically taught as a 'weed-out' class"?
I think most orgo instructors try to teach the material with the hope that every student succeeds. If med schools are using it to "weed out" applicants, that's on them, not the teachers.
10
11
107
A chaotic-good idea for your next faculty meeting: professors must recertify their tenure every 10 years by passing undergrad-level tests in general chem, organic, inorganic, physical, biochem, and safety.
9
6
104
I’m not trying to shame anyone. My simple point is that if the plight of disabled chemists is so easily overlooked by most of these organizations, leaders, and allies, what hope is there for meaningful inclusion? I fear the situation is not even slowly getting better, but worse.
3
4
96
If you’re a chemist who uses a wheelchair and does wet/bench lab work, I’d like to bounce an idea off of you. Email paul.bracher at slu(dot)edu. Other chemtweeps, I’d definitely appreciate this being forwarded to people you know who fit the bill and aren’t on Twitter. Thanks!
5
89
95
I’m not on Twitter a lot, so I missed the “extensive public” aspects of this search. A quick Google search yields a letter that does not appear to be a letter of recommendation.
Following an extensive public search Professor Erick Carreira will be the next Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), beginning January 2021.
40
159
797
2
9
88
Anyway, sorry to be so negative. But accessibility—like avoiding sexism, racism, and discrimination of LGBTQIA+ chemists—is also something that we should think about more than we do.
1
9
93
Today’s
@NobelPrize
in Physics just makes me think of how easily Stephen Hawking could have shared it were he still alive. One of the few physically disabled great scientists in the modern era and and inspiration to wheelchair users like me. Can’t help but feel he got shafted.
5
5
95
As the solemn season of Lent begins, I am reminded of the time I was teaching orgo when my wife texted to say we couldn’t have sex that night because “no meat on Fridays”. Her message was projected on the classroom screen because I forgot to silence notifications on my iPad.
3
1
84
Roughly 10.4% of the American workforce is disabled, but only 2.7% of the workforce in science and engineering. Surveys of college freshman suggest disabled students are interested in STEM careers, but this interest does not translate into STEM degrees.
2
9
86
Grad students: it’s a little counterintuitive because talks are perceived as ‘better’ than posters, but if you’re at a conference and want a break, choose to skip a session of talks instead of skipping a poster session. The interaction afforded at posters is *way* undervalued.
2
1
96
It’s not like performing benchwork in organic chemistry is climbing Everest or battling a superhuman mythical beast. Many students with disabilities could do it if given accessible lab space with an accommodating advisor.
1
8
89
I always admired the PhD graduate who referred to our advisor as a “worthy adversary” in the Acknowledgments section of her thesis. I thought that was just about as far as you could go.
Let's start an anti-acknowledgement section for manuscripts, where you call out the people who unnecessarily made your life more difficult during the project
304
2K
19K
0
10
90
As I was wheeled into surgery after a diazomethane explosion in college, the anesthesiologist asked me the last thing I’d eaten. I sheepishly confessed a 1-pound box of Entenmann’s chocolate chip cookies and a quart of 2% milk at 2 am the previous night. A nurse muttered, “Ugh.”
You can lie to your parents. You can lie to your boss. You can even lie to yourself.
But never, ever lie to your anesthesiologist.
363
4K
53K
6
4
84
If a disabled student approached you and inquired about joining your lab, would you encourage them? Is your lab space welcoming? Do you have any idea how you’d accommodate someone deaf…paralyzed…blind…chronically ill? Would you secretly hope they’d choose another lab?
3
8
85
Barriers in finding accessible research opportunities could help explain this gap. Look around. In your training, how many disabled students did you encounter? How many talks did you attend where the speaker was disabled? Have you ever met a disabled research-active PI?
2
5
82
The latest “Dear Guido” letter in chemistry…
Wow Erik it really sounds like you don't realize that students need to publish a thesis and pass departmental exams to graduate. If they don't do this they will be fired. Oh wait - you already told your new students to compete and that you'd fire the losers. nvm
@UCSDChemBiochem
70
132
1K
5
4
85
What I am asking for here is help. If anyone is teaching with the updated rules: do the following slides look correct? (slides 1-4 of 15)
4
12
77
A lot of PIs don’t even need to be able to perform complex experiments in the laboratory. The most critical skills required of PIs include management, creativity, writing, teaching, mentoring. Yet we base faculty jobs on the experimental productivity of students and postdocs.
2
2
78
I believe in the possibility of redemption of individuals who have made mistakes. But there is a clear "big picture" being painted by these brush strokes. Here are some of the troubling messages our field has sent to young faculty in the last ten years:
2
15
76
My sleeper pick for best book for organic chem instructors is 1992’s “Tandem Organic Reactions” by Ho. It’s not a proper text, but is fantastic inspiration for mechanism problems. Will also titillate those with organic synthesis kinks. What lesser known orgo books are your faves?
9
5
82
We can debate how much attention nomenclature deserves in sophomore organic chemistry, but I will not entertain a debate about teaching incorrect information to students. If there are standards set by IUPAC, we should use them.
8
3
75
My PhD advisor was adamant that nouns never be used as adjectives. He hated compound terms like "flow rate" and reiterated this regularly at our group meetings. So, one time, I asked him during such a meeting if he would order a pizza with pepperoni at the stadium for football.
13
2
75
It is the 5-year anniversary of my greatest accomplishment in life: buying $47.76 dollars worth of TicTacs for $0.24. Sometimes I lie awake at night wondering whether I will ever again feel as good as I did on Orange Friday.
8
1
78
Nothing is going to change anytime soon because this system is self-perpetuating. Those who bought into it and paid their dues now benefit from it. Finally, it’s their turn to run a lab of 15 privileged students with the same mindset and pick the winners. Wash, rinse, repeat.
3
3
75
@Chemjobber
Remember kids: never ever pay out of your own pocket to go to grad school in chemistry. You should be the one getting paid (either by your school or your employer).
0
12
72
How did F. Albert Cotton really die?
13
10
74
Definitely cations. I can find nothing but positive examples of them.
1
5
71
A few weeks ago, I ran a poll asking whether people had attended a scientific talk given by a speaker in a wheelchair. I imagine the responses were mostly weighted toward chemists, and 91% reported not having seen **one** such talk in the past **10 years**.
2
12
74
I will close by saying to tenured professors in leadership positions (chairs, editors): you know who most of these toxic advisors are. You hear the rumors in hallways and at happy hours. You had classmates in grad school who were wronged by them. Do something more than tweet.
7
7
72
My compromise when teaching named reactions is that I’ll use the names but I’m also going to spill the tea on those who deserve it.
5
5
80
Who's going to tell that big-shot PI that he's a villain in more grad-student stories than he is a hero?
4
4
74
It is the privileged who have the ability to work for little pay. It is the privileged who have the ability to subject their bodies to the stresses of a longer work day. It is the privileged who can bear the short-term opportunity costs of grad school.
1
9
70
When big chemistry textbooks went paperback, I grimaced but capitulated. But now these texts have transitioned to unbound/loose-leaf?! Is this really what students want? I want to have a proper book, not a mess of 800 pages perilously held together in a three-ring binder. Groan.
20
2
71
Paying 149-1. Please bring your tickets to the cashier.
BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2023
#NobelPrize
in Chemistry to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.”
340
10K
29K
3
1
77
The first thing I always did when taking a new chem course in college: buy used versions of a different textbook and solutions manual.
The first thing I do now teaching a new course: buy 3 pairs.
Old editions are a dirt-cheap source of practice problems and alt explanations.
7
2
70
I made some slides (including review slides and a few problems) that demonstrate the updated rules. The ChemDraw structures are embedded and can be edited to suit your taste. Find them here (both PPTX and PDF files) at the top of the page:
1
5
73
When the Hudlický essay came out in June 2020, it was telling how many official statements were released (e.g., from RSC, ACS Publications, and individual PIs) that specifically mentioned avoiding discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation but not disability.
1
3
68
Have you ever hosted someone disabled to visit your department? It’s kind of taxing. Did you book an accessible hotel room for them? Is there reliable accessible transportation from the airport and hotel to campus? Is your seminar room accessible? Your workspaces? Restaurants?
1
5
68
On this most sacred week in the liturgical year, I remind myself that entrance to Heaven is determined by a linear combination of h-index, total citations, mean teaching evaluation score (out of 5), and grant expenditures measured in US dollars.
4
5
63