Historic notes

As mentioned, the observation of chemical effects of light is as old as mankind itself. Accounts of the earlier history of photochemistry have been presented by several authors. Long erudite lists of reference are of little usefulness, however. Here, it has been chosen to present a brief historic profile based on a document itself of historic value, the introduction written by a great authority, professor Ivan Plotnikov. This well-known Russian-bom scientist published in 1910 a book on photochemistry which was followed in 1936 by a second, much extended, edition of over 900 pages. The view he had on this science, or at least on some aspects of it, in particular the unconditioned refusal of the Stark-Einstein equivalence law, appeared obsolete at the time of the second edition, as it is discussed in Sect. 2.3. However, Plotnikov can certainly not be accused of insufficient knowledge of the matter or of insufficient exploration of the literature and his book is a rich mine of data and thoughts [7]. 

Although a lessening of the rate of the scientific advancement in photochemistry after the war was noticeable, Plotnikov hoped that this would have not lasted long and the discipline would early find a shared, comprehensive theory as well as new applications (he thought particularly of biology and medicine). 

Plotnikov had been somewhat hasty in judging that photochemistry had become a mature science in 1930. In fact, many seeds were close to germinate, the paradigms of photochemistry had been not yet formulated, the number of known photochemical reactions was too small for reaching generalizations, and apart from the fact that in many cases it was difficult to recognize which chemical change occurred upon irradiation, key instruments that were able to afford a more detailed view of excited states had yet to be devised and assembled. 

In the present case, further extending his list of key dates would lead to a treatise of photochemistry that may be conveniently found elsewhere. This will not be attempted, therefore, and only a few indications are given of the main instrumental advancements that made possible to understand the complex mechanism of photochemical reactions. A list of dates can at any rate be found in the Webster s timeline history [14]  

Westfall RS (1962) The development of Newton theory of light. Isis 53 339-358 

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Although these humble origins make interesting historical notes m most cases the large scale preparation of carboxylic acids relies on chemical synthesis Virtually none of the 3 X 10 lb of acetic acid produced m the United States each year is obtained from vinegar Instead most industrial acetic acid comes from the reaction of methanol with carbon monoxide... 

WriE81 Wright, E. M. Burnside s lemma. A historical note. J. Comb. Theory B (1981) 89-90. 

Historical note concerning the Emerald Tablet. Hermetic J, no. 15 (Spring 1982) 35-39. 

Ashmole, Elias, Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) his autobiographical and historical notes, his correspondence, and other contemporary sources relating to his life and work edited, with a biographical introduction, by C. H. Josten. Edited by Conrad Hermann Josten, Oxford Clarendon P, 1966. 

Historical notes and lore, often from Chinese alchemy as well as western botanical sources, are featured... 

With respect to SCF models that focus on the tail properties only (typically densely packed layers of end-grafted chains), the molecularly realistic SCF model exemplified in this review needs many interaction parameters. These parameters are necessary to obtain colloid-chemically stable free-floating bilayers. A historical note of interest is that it was only after the first SCF results [92] showed that it was not necessary to graft the lipid tails to a plane, that MD simulations with head-and-tail properties were performed. In the early MD simulations (i.e. before 1983) the chains were grafted (by a spring) to a plane it was believed that without the grafting constraints the molecules would diffuse away and the membrane would disintegrate. Of course, the MD simulations that include the full head-and-tails problem feature many more interactions than the early ones. 

A historical note to this story was that Royal Copeland did not live to see his measure passed. In May, 1938, he collapsed on the Senate floor. His death occurred one month before President Roosevelt signed his bill into law. 

As a historical note, SAI for Dove was made by this acyl chloride process until a commercial process for direct esterification of fatty acid and sodium isethionate was developed by Lever Brothers Co. in the late 1950 s. The SAI made by direct esterification is generally termed DEFI, an acronym for directly esterified fatty isethionate . The DEFI reaction is follows ... 

A historical note the glycolytic pathway was the very first metabolic pathway to be worked out in detail. This pathway is very well understood, as is each enzyme involved. We shall be concerned with the principal features of the pathway but not with the wealth of detail provided by research in biochemistry over several decades. 

Historical Note. Much of the early work on meso-ionic compounds was pioneered by Max Busch. It seems appropriate that the final reference in this review should recognize this important contribution. Max Busch (1865-1941), Ber. 74, (A)225 (1941) Sitzungsber. Phys.-Med. Soz. Erlangen 72, xxxiii (1941) CA 44, 3314h (1950)1. 

A brief historical note on the structure of the iron-sulfur clusters in ferredoxins is relevant. After the first analytical results revealed the presence of (nearly) equimolar iron and acid-labile sulfur, it was clear that the metal center in ferredoxins did not resemble any previously characterized cofactor type. The early proposals for the Fe S center structure were based on a linear chain of iron atoms coordinated by bridging cysteines and inorganic sulfur (Blomstrom et al., 1964 Rabino-witz, 1971). While the later crystallographic analyses of HiPIP, PaFd, and model compounds (Herskovitz et al., 1972) demonstrated the cubane-type structure of the 4Fe 4S cluster, the original proposals have turned out to be somewhat prophetic. Linear chains of sulfide-linked irons are observed in 2Fe 2S ferredoxins and in the high-pH form of aconitase. Cysteines linked to several metal atoms are present in metallothionein. The chemistry of iron-sulfur clusters is rich and varied, and undoubtedly many other surprises await in the future. 

Historical note The term colloid is derived from the Greek word kolla for glue. It was originally used for gelatinous polymer colloids, which were identified by Thomas Graham in 1860 in experiments on osmosis and diffusion. 

A Some historical notes on colloid and surface chemistry... 

Baas-Becking, L G M, Historical notes on salt and salt-manufacture, Sci... 

Browne, C A., Historical notes upon the domestic potash industry in early Colonial and later times, J Chem. Educ., 3, 749-56 (July, 1926). 

Now, let me go back to a few historical notes arbitrarily selected, with the aim of illustrating the historical framework (see also Luisi, 1998). Only the naturalistic view of life, excluding the creationistic or transcendental view will be considered. Let s start with the German biologist and philosopher Friedrich Rolle who noted a long time ago (1863) ... 

E) Mario Giaccio (Univ of Pescara) Quad Merceol 7 (1), 63-87 (1968). CA 71, 146 (1969) [Historical notes on solid proplnts for rockets, from Chinese craftsmen to large-scale industry are given. Modern proplnts (fuels and oxidizers)are included and future developments are discussed]... 

Elias Ashmole, Autobiographical and Historical Notes, Correspondence, and Other... 

Sim] Simmons, G.E, Differential Equations with Applications and Historical Notes, McGraw Hill, New York, 1972. 

A brief historical note with references to five classic papers by the Coris (online journal only). 

Collision-induced electronic spectra have many features in common with rovibrotranslational induced absorption. In this Section, we take a look at the electronic spectra. We start with a historical note on the famous forbidden oxygen absorption bands in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet. We proceed with a brief study of the common features, as well as of the differences, of electronic and rovibrotranslational induced absorption. Recent work is here considered much of which was stimulated by the advent of the laser - hence the name laser-assisted collisions. The enormous available laser powers stimulated new research on laser-controlled, reactive collisions and interactions of supermolecules with intense radiation fields. In conclusion, we attempt a simple classification of various types of electronic collision-induced spectra. 

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