Tim C. Smith

@chemsmith.bsky.social

Chemist making/purifying stable-isotope compounds at MilliporeSigma. Dad, husband, slow endurance athlete. I like being with my wife and daughter, working out, traveling, hiking, broadway shows, rock n roll, tolerant joyful smart people.

Looking for anyone who has done this as a large scale (>10 g) preparation of L-Glutamine. I can't get it to work well. (Yes I've scoured the literature and have considered the inhibitory feedback mechanisms and have varied all the variables I can, but continue to get poor yields.) #chemsky 🧪

Conversion of L-Glutamic acid to L-Glutamine using Glutamine synthetase.

Any prep-HPLC experts? I must isolate 20-40 g of a fatty acid ester by HPLC. RP column. So, many injections. I can make solutions that are 1 g material in 4 mL mobile phase. Is this a crazy (e.g., bad) concentration to use? It does *seem* to be working. 🧪 #chemsky

My HPLC sample vial.

In 2 days, a scientist wrote a whole paper and it was accepted. That was back in 2020. By now I assume you just feed in some data and AI converts it to a paper and minutes later it’s accepted by AI editors. 🧪

Copy of a paragraph from Dragon’s Egg by Robert L Forward (1980).

If there exists a 6-month to 1-year PhD level position in synthetic organic chemistry in the Seattle area, please let me know! (Yeah I know the odds are low.) Why this picture? I don’t know - but I can do chemistry! 🧪 #chemsky

Me in my biking clothes with a beer.

Twice I have tried and failed to get into the lottery for this. Question: are there any other similar types of interesting natural phenomena like this to see? I think there are the bats exiting caves in Texas. Other stuff? Anything. 🧪

Advert for the Great Smokies synchronous firefly lottery.

Apparently Wheaton (or anyone?) does not make these desiccators any more - the ones with the gaskets. I like them much better than the ones you have to grease, and require force to pull the lids off. Do you know if these are sold anywhere? (Besides eBay) 🧪 #chemsky

Large and small desiccators with gaskets between base and lid.

What do the SPACE SHUTTLE, ICE RINKS and your SEX LIFE have in common? Let's talk about it. In the 1970's, an engineer was working on active cooling systems for NASA's Space Shuttle program. There were already freon-based closed loop systems, but they took time to cool & circulate.

Space Shuttle Launch: To The Moon Take Off

Alt: Space Shuttle Launch: To The Moon Take Off. It's a lot of flame shooting out the back of a launch vehicle with the space shuttle mounted to it.

static.klipy.com

On this day 70 years ago-May 1, 1956-the polio vaccine was first made widely available to the public. The vaccine’s developer, Dr. Jonas Salk, did not patent the vaccine so that it would remain available to as many people as possible in the US and internationally. Image: Harvey Georges/AP.

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Harold Urey was born on this day in 1893. He discovered deuterium in 1932. Willie Nelson was born on this day in 1933 (same year as my mom). Urey got the Nobel Prize in 1934. Are these events connected? Here’s a New Ales Post Mow Lawn German Kolsch 4.2% to them. Willie is still with us! 🧪 #chemsky

Harold Urey, a deuterium atom, Willie Nelson, and me holding a beer.

Every time I see someone shame-post about how people should give up driving and bike to work, it’s a picture of someone on a completely flat road in the middle of the city. Not on hilly country roads for 30 km on icy roads in the dark with cars 2 cm from them. 🚲

Just me in my bike shirt, having a beer. 🍺 🙃

"All of these things frighten me, and they should frighten you as well. I made the decision to create a life for myself here, because I viewed this as a place that rewarded determination, hard work, and integrity. It still has a chance to be that place again." open.substack.com/pub/ofthebra...

I’m a Nobel Prize-winning immigrant. I can no longer recognize this country.

Attacks on science and immigrants are destroying America.

open.substack.com