Fabrication on Steroids

In this video, I discuss a paper from SN Applied Sciences, where the authors demonstrate some unprecedented chemistry using acetonitrile.

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Links to articles discussed in this episode:

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[Blakearmin]

I think you, and Explosions & Fire/Extrac&Ire are the only two chemistry channels that can make me laugh on the regular.

[Pieps]

"Since several years ago, some theoretical models have been used to predict the interactions of some drugs with protein and enzymes."

Ah yes, the obscure and niche field of pharmacology.

[helldad]

This is the kind of chemistry you see on blackboards in the background of blockbuster movies. They should really be publishing in IMDB.

[gamingmarcus]

Heart attacks kill people, therefore elevating the average level of health in the world, or causing health. Not so hard to understand =P

[tus]

If you still have the time, please continue your commentaries about toxic papers. It's really mind-opening how scientific papers can be published in reputable journals like this. These videos kinda served as a precautionary tale for me if I ever do future research (in microbio though). lol

I thought novels only do fiction, I guess even here too. lmao

[mathiasdaniels]

Their first NMR spectrum looks just like estradiol (their starting material) in DMSO-d6. This can be expected because I wouldn't think anything was going to happen with just reflux in acetonitrile. The authors probably had a look in the literature, found the Overman rearrangement and assumed that this would happen in their reaction. The second spectrum looks to be a mixture of methanol and water (the solvent they used for crystallisation, the calibration looks off) with some small amount of residue peaks from other solvents. The third spectrum also looks like it is a mixture of solvents with mainly DMSO and water (if the calibration is more or less ok). So it is surprising that this got past the editor and "peer review".

[MooreAnalytical]

I have been running GCMS and Pyrolysis GCMS for 8 years and I hardly ever see compounds like this using that method. The way one would usually see these compounds in the gas phase is only after derivatization which does not always work well. Really love your content and please keep shedding light on the bad science that is pushed out in the world.

[morrisdweck]

That "weird" form of an amide at 10:48 is called an imidate. There are many, many syntheses for imidates and this certainly isn't one of them

[TheBackyardChemist]

300 Hz sounds like your magnet quenched and all you are left with is the Earth's magnetic field

[georgejanzen]

A channel that specializes in roasting bad papers is something I didn't know I need in my life. Thank you so much!

[razabazal]

This is a great “What not to do when writing a lab report.” Kind of funny and informative. Great job lets see more.

[slavakuznetsov]

You need to call it "Humor", not "Toxic", because it's damn hilarious. LOL. "Theoretical ass" is what I would call some computational chemists who claim that some thermodynamic parameters are involved in binding.

[johnsmith-spyl]

i think the "nightmare about chemistry and this is what they saw" is on point, i remember after finishing calc 3 i had a nightmare where i had to take the integral of an equation but it was floating orange numbers and none of it made any sense and i had to use inverse trig substitutions.

[Liamb]

This is by far the best paper I've ever seen

[KublaKhanful]

Sure the NMR spectra were pretty ugly but when you've only got a 300 Hz magnet you take what you can get. Love the series man, keep it up.

[naturalproductsguy]

"Stirred to a reflux, " I actually laughed out loud.

[roblesman]

As a native Spanish speaker, all the grammar mistakes were hilarious, cause they are exactly what I would have written when I was 15yo. I feel bad haha I feel like I could still make some of these mistakes. Don't be too harsh on them (on language), it can be challenging to write scientifically in another language sometimes.

Thank you for this. I've mentioned this guy in a comment on your video a while back and I'm glad you followed up with this. I'm happy you seemed to have fun with this, as someone who has published in the same journal as this guy (Steroids) it was more bittersweet for me. I've already written E-Mails to Editors of some of these journals but I only got back promises that they would reach out to the authors and no retraction.

[JohnWL]

I love that there are no residual solvent peaks from any recognizable NMR solvent. I also enjoy that in the figure titles they finally put the correct MHz for the C13 NMR.

[alanhere]

GPT-3 has got much better since 2020, but it was never this bad, if someone is going to write a paper with AI at least they should get up to date with it.