The extraordinary world of sulphur PART 1 by Andrew Szydlo

[andrewtretiakov]

Hi everyone,

I know this post should be under the Publications portal but for some reason I'm unable to do so. Sorry.

In any case hope you all enjoy Andrew Szydlo's latest article publication PART 1 (open access):
https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/cdem-2023-0002

There are so many things to say & learn about sulphur that this magnificent article written by Andrew Szydlo after his Royal Institution lecture on 2 December 2023 had to be split into 2 parts! The extraordinary world of sulphur PART 1 is out now (open access). Please enjoy this journey into the history, evolution and future of this ancient yellow element that has transformed and is still transforming the lives of human beings.

Best wishes,
Andres

[lemmi]

Thanks for the link!

I was not aware of the origin of the word "sulfur"! Interestingly, chemistry books tend to explain the origins of all element names (Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Bromine, Iodine ...) but I never read an expplanation of the name of sulfur. So it comes from the sanskrit word "sulvari". I wonder if the german word "Schwefel" is simply derived from this also (I guess it is so) or if it has its own origin.

[EDIT: I passed this thread to the actual section]

[schlemmiloom]

Dear Andres,

Thanks a lot for linking this interesting article.
Right now, I just had time to skim over the text but realized that it is something I prefer to take more time for.
I am looking forward to read it carefully soon.
Although the following seems not to be part of this paper, the text reminded me of lectures I listened to quite a long time ago.
The lectures were given by a great professor of inorganic chemistry.
It was about the central role of sulfur in living matter as it coordinates metal ions in complexes inside of enzymes.
You may call it bio-inorganic chemistry.

Best wishes and kind regards

[andrewtretiakov]

I'm so glad you enjoyed the article. According to Andrew it took him many many hours of research and performing his own experiments. Some reproduced from ancient texts. A lot had to be left out due to lack of space. It should have been a book to be honest!
In PART 2 you'll find more sulphur chemistry in inorganic and biochemistry. I'll will share it here of course as soon as it comes out.

If you find your Prof lectures online please could you share them with us. They sound very interesting.
Thank you very much.

Best wishes,
Andres

[schlemmiloom]

Thanks so much to Andrew.
These ancient texts are rare to find and it sometimes seems that old knowledge got lost.
Reproducing it in a lab may even be more challenging and of course takes a lot of time, patience and lifeblood.

If you find your Prof lectures online please could you share them with us. They sound very interesting.

Indeed, it was interesting. Unfortunately, he is retired, I’m not sure but I hope he is still alive.
When I listened to his lectures there were no contents online.
One had to note down everything by hand and it was impressive to see him speaking while he was writing on the blackboards.
His assistant sometimes whipped off chalk letters, faster than I could read, to give him fresh free space.
This was our basic course of inorganic chemistry in first semester.

I’m not sure if he later changed to PowerPoint presentations or other digital materials for his lessons.
I think he told us that people have to write down things to memorize.
So, I guess there are no materials online about his lessons, but of course his scientific publications are.
I’m not sure if he liked these to be linked here, but maybe I could send you a personal message if you like.

Just one more anecdote from my side about him:

In the end of the first practical course there was an oral examination. He seemed to be in a little bit bad mood, maybe disappointed of what was coming out before.
I was well prepared for everything about separating and identifying cations and anions in qualitative inorganic analysis of all groups.

The main focus of his questions was:

Why is this certain iron complex blue (Prussian blue)? And the other one red (thiocyanate)?

I thought: Yes, this is really an interesting question. But I wondered if this was really discussed so much in detail in that course or associated lectures.
I was a bit sad about the mark I got, when I heard about others who were examined by another professor just about some simple precipitation reaction. I did not take it too bad but kept it in memories.

In later semesters the professor got much more relaxed in his lectures. May be because students listened more attentively and more respectful compared to first semester.
In first semester students came late, talked while he was speaking, and left lecture hall incomprehensibly.
Maybe some wondered about his old-fashioned way of speaking or even made fun of his accent.
No wonder this could be frustrating to any professor to see you are teaching in front of a kindergarten against your own choice.

Kind regards