Monday's Molecule #78

 
Today is Tuesday so, once again, it's time for Monday's Molecule.¹

This time there are two molecules and you have to get them both right in order to win. We'll need complete and accurate common names and IUPAC names. The two molecules have something in common, they belong to the same class of compounds. Can you guess what class it is?

As always, there's a connection between today's molecule and a Nobel Prize. The prize was awarded for being the first scientist to recognize that these molecules exist in nature and play an important role in biology. The structure of the molecules was not known when the Nobel Prize was awarded.

The first person to correctly identify the molecules and name the Nobel Laureate(s), wins a free lunch at the Faculty Club. Previous winners are ineligible for one month from the time they first collected the prize. There are four ineligible candidates for this week's reward. You know who you are.

THEME:

Nobel Laureates
Send your guess to Sandwalk (sandwalk (at) bioinfo.med.utoronto.ca) and I'll pick the first email message that correctly identifies the molecule and names the Nobel Laureate(s). Note that I'm not going to repeat Nobel Laureate(s) so you might want to check the list of previous Sandwalk postings by clicking on the link in the theme box.

Correct responses will be posted tomorrow. I may select multiple winners if several people get it right.

Comments will be blocked for 24 hours. Comments are now open.

UPDATE: This week's winner is Neel Patel. Here's his answer ..

Both molecules are fat-soluble vitamins.

The first molecule is Vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. The IUPAC name is (3â,5Z,7E)-9,10-secocholesta-5,7,10(19)-trien-3-ol.

The second is Vitamin A, or retinol. The IUPAC name is (2E,4E,6E,8E) -3,7-dimethyl-9- (2,6,6-trimethylcyclohex-1-enyl) -nona-2,4,6,8-tetraen-1-ol

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929 pertinent to the above two molecules was awarded to Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, who was the first to propose the existence of vitamins, which he termed "accessory factors".

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1. I took a day off from posting, just because I was lazy and it was a holiday.