iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

BREAKING NEWS: The Chemist group broke a J Young tube, again. Sources suggest a freeze–pump–thaw was to blame. So much for "global warming"!

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I think it means that the A in the logo is stylized so it kind of looks like a suspension bridge... which I guess I can kind of see but mostly that is just what the letter A looks like.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Pretty sure I have skeeted this before, but a significant portion of my PhD work was described in the literature as "potentially pointless."

Portion of a table from a paper listing "examples of potentially pointless stereoselective syntheses from recent literature."

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

It is, uh, very MacGyvered together: • Stacks of textbooks supporting laptop/mic • Iron ring/ring stand holding up webcam • Doc cam counterbalanced down by a 10 kg weight I found in the stockroom • Dry erase board • Pin notes to corkboard for reference

Photo of a desk set up for video recording.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Yeah, I have done similar with a doc cam and it seems to work okay.

Screenshot from a lecture video on cyclohexane derivatives.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Gonna show this to anyone who asks why they should study organic chemistry.

Screenshot from the Wikipedia article for Fred Baur, an organic chemist known for "designing and patenting the Pringles packaging."

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Our latest paper is online in JOC! We looked into the mechanism of some azulene functionalization chemistry using experiment and DFT, and we were surprised by the conclusions. doi.org/10.1021/acs....

TOC graphic showing the reaction under study.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

It seems to be a misinterpretation of this compound, 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-tetracyano-1,4-benzoquinone dimethane... the dimethane part of the name is important.

Chemical structure of 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-tetracyano-1,4-benzoquinone dimethane.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Reaxys says it is in four thousand documents and they are all patents.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

biblically accurate benzoquinone derivative

An abomination of a chemical structure featuring eight bonds to carbon.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Good to see Olivia Rodrigo singing about her course-based undergraduate research experience, but she needs better PPE.

Screenshot from Olivia Rodrigo's "The Cure" music video, featuring her standing behind a chemistry-ish glassware setup.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Just look at all of these leftovers!!!

Two tupperware containers of blackberry crumb bars.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

It's cool that the ACS Quick Style Guide cites Steeped, but who is F. Frankel?

Screenshot from the ACS Quick Style Guide.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

We've found that not all sprinkles work equally well, so you may have to test a few brands if you're looking to replicate on your own. This bottle from the local Save A Lot was the undisputed champion of those we tried.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Very upstate NY. Maybe not as impressive as it sounds.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

A published paper described some of my PhD work as "potentially pointless." I choose to interpret this as a complement because it implies that there was potentially a point.

Table from a paper listing "examples of potentially pointless stereoselective syntheses from recent linterature."

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

There are worse things I could be known for.

Photo of a white board asking students to vote whether Dr. Schreiber likes frogs more or I like cats more.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Here is the table of contents. There are choices I would not have made (and I was not assuming you were endorsing all of the books on the list!)

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Finally, we'll examine this chart, the implications of which are left as an exercise to the reader. [from www.nytimes.com/interactive/... ]

Chart showing grant funding at NIH for the first 100 days of several presidents. The current administration's funding is less than half that of the next-highest.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Penultimately, we'll take a look at the first report of a successful mRNA vaccine and notice that a large number of the authors worked at the NIH (highlighted in yellow) or were directly funded by the NIH (highlighted in pink).

Photo of a paper entitled "Zika virus protection by a single low-dose nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccination." In the author list, names are highlighted to show that 5 authors worked at NIH and an additional 10 were funded by NIH.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

We'll talk about the long timeline of scientific research. Ionizable cationic lipids were disclosed in 1995 (I was in kindergarten). The first mRNA vaccine was realized in 2017 (I was in grad school). In 2021, I drove to a Walgreens in the middle of nowhere, Ohio to get an mRNA vaccine of my own.

Timeline of events leading to lipid nanoparticle enabled RNA vaccines. From Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2024, 23, 709.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

For the last day of my organic class, we discuss the synthesis of the ionizable lipids used in mRNA vaccine nanoparticles – the patented route is all o-chem II reactions.

Synthetic route to ALC-0315, an ionizable lipid used in mRNA vaccines.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Some really good alternate names for KMnO₄ here.

Screenshot from Wikipedia showing other names of potassium permanganate as "chameleon mineral," "Condy's crystals," "permanganate of potash," "hypermangan," and "purple potion powder."

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Everything is terrible so here is a cat pic.

A white and orange cat nestled into a fuzzy blue blanket.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I got through fluorine. #7-9 are made of some material that overheats the handle in the microwave, rendering them virtually useless for me when I make my little chai latte each morning.

ACS mug with fluorine and the text “Happy 9th Anniversary.”

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

This photo does little to convince me of the quality and rigor of the advertised product.

Photo of a student in lab holding a beaker and wearing safety goggles improperly on top of their head. Text reads "Hey, chemistry professor! Wondering how you can ensure the quality & rigor of your labs for online students?"

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

does this mean that posting cat pics is patriotic

Photo of an orange and white cat next to a water bottle decorated with chemical structures.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Amused to discover that Antoine Lavoisier is Wikipedia's main example of a wife guy.

Screenshot from the Wikipedia page for "Wife Guy" with a painting of noted chemists Marie-Anne and Antoine Lavoisier.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 05/11/2024

Here is the banner for my course webpage.

A white and orange cat batting at a molecular model in front of an organic chemistry textbook.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 11/10/2024

Is Fluorescence Friday still a thing.

NMR sample glowing yellow under UV light.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 30/09/2024

Perhaps my most significant teaching innovation is that I printed a bunch of stickers of my cat to give students when they do well on quizzes.

Stickers depicting a white and orange cat.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 18/06/2024

Excited to share my first preprint as corresponding author! We developed new experiments for second-year or advanced organic chemistry lab courses to teach column chromatography in a highly visual manner. chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Graphical abstract showing a silica column with clear purple and orange bands along with the corresponding reaction.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 04/05/2024

but actually maybe this is funnier

The image of the NYPD guy on the news holding up a Terrorism textbook but the book has been replaced with Organic Chemistry for Babies.

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Patrick Lutz @patricklutz.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

Whenever I show students a ring-forming reaction, I think of this post about Mario.

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