Monday, June 2, 2008

Monday's Molecule #74

 
This is an important molecule for some species but not for others. You need to identify the molecule, give its correct common name and the formal IUPAC name. Pay attention to the correct names because there are several similar compounds

There's an direct connection between today's molecule and a Nobel Prize. The prize was awarded for purifying the molecule, determining its structure, and figuring out what it does. The first person to correctly identify the molecule 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.

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: The molecule shown above is cortosol or hydrocortisone (11,17,21- trihydroxy-,(11β)- pregn-4-ene-3,20- dione) [8R, 9R, 10R, 11S, 13S, 14S,17R)-11,17- dihydroxy-17- (2-hydroxyacetyl)-10,13- dimethyl- 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16-decahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-one]. The Nobel Laureates are Edward Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, and Philip Hench (1950).

The first person to get it right was Matt Wagner, a student at Queen's University in Kingson ON (Canada).

University of Toronto students aren't doing so well these days, although, in fairness, there were two who got it right this time. They were late sending in their answers, presumably because they were up all night doing experiments and didn't see my posting until noon hour.



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