Sunday, October 18, 2015

Wow, 4,4’-dibromodiphenyl is beautiful

Credit: Dr. Ryoji Tanaka, Ebina, Kanagawa, Japan
Via commenter SJ, some rather beautiful pictures from the 2015 Nikon microscopy contest winners.

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5 comments:

  1. Grim ReaperOctober 19, 2015 at 10:35 AM

    I would run this synthesis when nothing was working on my graduate thesis project. It is a beautiful example of a solid gas phase reaction and the crystals were perfect. Restores ones faith in chemistry

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  2. AnonymousOctober 19, 2015 at 11:45 AM

    What's up with the jacked up picture link?

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  3. Generic ChemistOctober 19, 2015 at 3:33 PM

    The 4,4’-dibromodiphenyl is, indeed pretty. I am curious about why the use of polarized light gives the photograph an almost cartoon-like coloring.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 19, 2015 at 6:08 PM

      The coloring effect is due to 'birefringence'. These crystals (and many others) have differing refractive indices depending on relative orientation of light/crystal packing. Perpendicular components of light waves will be affected to different extents, leading to constructive or destructive interference depending on wavelength. The effect is similar to what happens when light interacts with thin films.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20

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