Silly/Funny molecule names

Ohhhh, this is a looooonnnnngggggg page. Check out some of the silly names given to molecules by various scientists. Sometimes, the names are comical all by themselves. Sometimes, it takes reading the site’s commentary to get the laugh.  Here’s a tiny sample (there are so many covered, that this really is a pretty small sampling).

Draculin

Draculin is the anticoagulant factor in vampire bat saliva. It is a large glycoprotein made from a sequence of 411 amino acids, but I haven’t been able to find a picture of it yet.

DEAD

DEAD is actually the acronym for diethyl azodicarboxylate, which is an important reagent in the well-known Mitsunobu reaction which performs a stereospecific conversion of an alcohol to a primary amine. It’s quite a good acronym, as DEAD is an orange liquid that’s explosive, shock sensitive, light sensitive, toxic, a possible carcinogen or mutagen, and an eye, skin and respiratory irritant! A version of diethyl azodicarboxylate mixed with acid and triphenylphosphine has also been termed DEADCAT.

Fuchsite

Fuchsite is a mineral, and is the green form of Muscovite, KAl2(AlSi3O10)(F, OH)2. It is used as an ornamental stone, and apparently has perfect cleavage…

Erotic Acid

No, this isn’t the world’s best aphrodisiac. Its correct name is orotic acid, but it has been misspelt so often in the chemical literature that it is also known as erotic acid! Another name for it is vitamin B13. Apparently, if you add another carbon to it, it becomes homo-erotic acid…

[tags]Molecules, Chemistry[/tags]