Thiotimoline

There's been a lot of talk recently about scieintific misinformaton on the internet. I started reminiscing about what things were like when I was growing up. I remember when I learned about DNA and when I first heard about black holes.

Then I remembered how excited I was when I first heard about the properties of thiotimoline from a well-known biochemist (Asimov, 1948). I can't say for sure that this tilted me toward choosing a career in biochemistry but it certainly played a role.

Some of you may not be familiar with thiotimoline. Here's the most important characteristic of this amazing molecule as reported in the original paper.

The correlation of the structure of organic molecules with their various properties, physical and chemical, has in recent years afforded much insight into the mechanism of organic reactions, notably in the theories of resonance and mesomerism as developed in the last decade. The solubilities of organic compounds in various solvents has become of particular interest in this connection through the recent discovery of the endochronic nature of thiotimoline.

It has been long known that the solubility of organic compounds in polar solvents such as water is enhanced by the presence upon the hydrocarbon nucleus of hydrophilic—i.e. water-loving—groups, such as the hydroxy (–OH), amino (–NH₂), or sulphonic acid (SO₃H) groups. Where the physical characteristics of two given compounds—particularly the degree of subdivision of the material—are equal, then the time of solution—expressed in seconds per gram of material per millilitre of solvent—decreases with the number of hydrophilic groups present. Catechol, for instance, with two hydroxy groups on the benzene nucleus dissolves considerably more quickly than does phenol with only one hydroxy group on the nucleus. Feinschreiber and Hravlek [2] in their studies on the problem have contended that with increasing hydrophilism, the time of solution approaches zero.

That this analysis is not entirely correct was shown when it was discovered that the compound thiotimoline will dissolve in water—in the proportions of 1 g/mL—in minus 1.12 seconds. That is, it will dissolve before the water is added [3].

I think this is the only molecule that has this property of pre-dissolving but it's been known for so long now that most people don't realize how paradigm-shifting it was when first reported.

I long for the olden days when scientists were honest and respected and misinformation was unheard of.

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Asimov, I. (1948) The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline. J. Ast. SF, 50: 120-125.

The quotation from the original paper comes from Andrew May.