On October 13, 2021, the historical group of the Royal Society of Chemistry organised a symposium celebrating ~150 years of the history of (molecular) chirality. We met for the first time in person for more than 18 months and were treated to a splendid and diverse program about the subject. The first speaker was Professor John Steeds from Bristol, talking about the early history of light and the discovery of its polarisation. When a slide was shown about herapathite[1] my “antennae” started vibrating. This is a crystalline substance made by combining elemental iodine with quinine in acidic conditions and was first discovered by William Herapath as long ago as 1852[2] in unusual circumstances. Now to the serendipity!
References
- B. Kahr, J. Freudenthal, S. Phillips, and W. Kaminsky, "Herapathite", Science, vol. 324, pp. 1407-1407, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1173605
- W.B. Herapath, "XXVI. <i>On the optical properties of a newly-discovered salt of quinine, which crystalline substance possesses the power of polarizing a ray of light, like tourmaline, and at certain angles of rotation of depolarizing it, like selenite</i>", The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. 3, pp. 161-173, 1852. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786445208646983