Blogs and Chemical Communication

Steven M. BachrachTrinity University

sbachrach@trinity.edu

www.comporgchem.com/blog

What is a blog?“web log”Series of postsMore dynamic content than a

web pageBegan in late 1990s and come

into its own in early 2000s as part of Web 2.0

Chemistry Blog typesOpinion and NewsTeachingArticle ReviewsOriginal Research

petermr's blog – Peter Murray-Rust(http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/)

In The Pipeline – Derek Lowe(http://pipeline.corante.com/)

Chem Bark – Paul Bracher(http://blog.chembark.com/)

Chemistry Blog – multiple authors(http://www.chemistry-blog.com/)

Master Organic Chemistry - James Ashenhurst(http://masterorganicchemistry.com/)

Totally Synthetic – Paul Docherty(http://totallysynthetic.com/blog/)

Computational Organic Chemistry – Steven Bachrach(http://comporgchem.com/blog/)

Henry Rzepa(http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/blog/)

Finding BlogsAggregators

◦Chemical Blogspace◦Computational Chemistry Highlights

Chemical Blogspace – Egon Willighagen,Peter Maas(http://cb.openmolecules.net/)

Chemical Blogspace - Zeitgeist

Computational Chemistry Highlights - Jan Jensen(http://www.compchemhighlights.org/)

Computational Chemistry Highlights

Blogging as Peer review. I.“Reductive and Transition-Metal-

Free: Oxidation of Secondary Alcohols by Sodium Hydride” Wang, Zhang, Wang, JACS, 2009, DOI: 10.1021/ja904224y

Blogging as Peer Review. I.Blogged in Totally Synthetic

(http://totallysynthetic.com/blog/?p=1903)

◦Included repeating experiment◦Picked up by readers who also failed to reproduce results

◦Consensus suggestion that oxygen contaminants, either from air or within or upon NaH, are responsible for oxidation

Summarized in RSC blog(http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/July/27070901.asp)

Result:

Blogging as Peer review. II.“Evidence for the Likely Origin of

Homochirality in Amino Acids, Sugars, and Nucleosides on Prebiotic Earth,” Ron Breslow, JACS, 2012, 134, 6887–6892, DOI: 10.1021/ja3012897

Dinos in Space!◦ "An implication of this work is that elsewhere in

the universe there could exist life forms based on D amino acids and L sugars...Such life forms could even be advanced versions of dinosaurs,  if mammals did not have the good fortune to have the dinosaurs wiped out by an asteroidal collision, as on Earth. We would be better off not meeting them."

Blogging as Peer Review. II.Plagarism and exaggerated claims highlighted in

Chem Bark, In the Pipeline, Curious Wavefunction, and others◦ blog.chembark.com/2012/04/12/breslow-and-dinosaurs-in-

jacs-oh-my/◦ pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/04/25/

breslows_chirality_paper_more_than_just_alien_dinosaurs.php

◦ wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2012/04/would-ron-breslows-dinosaurs-be-typing.html

◦ justlikecooking.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/space-dinos-prebiotic-chemistry-meets.html

Stuart Cantrell’s (Chief Editor of Nature Chemistry) Twitter pics demonstrate many paragraphs that were lifted whole (http://twitpic.com/9dd5f1)

Result:

Why I blogAltruism only goes so farSurvey the computational

organic literature to◦A) provide currency to my book◦B) assist in writing the second

edition◦C) forms the basis of a series of

review articles for RSCDemonstrate the use of blogging

in chemical communication

Chemistry-enabled Blogging

Technical ConsiderationsBlog software

◦WordpressBlog-specific hosting

◦Self-hosting◦Commercial blogging service

Wordpress.com, blogger.com (now google), blogspot.com

Remote host MediaTemple

The Future of BloggingPressure from other social media

◦Hard to envisage Twitter as an effective chemical communication medium

Need to establish professional benefit to blogging◦Alt.metrics

Current most promising candidate: Journal review overlay

AcknowledgmentsPeter Murray-RustHenry RzepaJan JensenWiley, RSCDustin Bachrach