applications and analogies
edited by RONDELORENZO Middle Georgia College Cachran, GA31014
Chemistry and Popular Culture The 007 Bond Arthur M. Last Science Unit. Athabasca University, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada TOG 2R0 ics taught in typical undergraduate chemistry w ~ r s e s . ~ Refrrrnceii to chemistry, or chrmistry-related issues Only examples appearingin the original 14 Fleming books havc aoocnrcd in fictional litcraturc for manv vcars. Thus. and the movies based on them will be discussed here. The in !RueifihNight, Shakespeare has Sir Toby ~ k c declare; h more recent Bond novels produced by other authors will "Does not our lives consist of the four elements?" (.I ),. a reE not be considered. erence to the early attempts of the Greek philosophers to explain the nature of matter. Almost three centuries later, Organic Chemistry in The Woodlanders (21, Thomas Hardv noted how the Apart from ethyl alcohol in its various forms, the organic shovels belonging to men involved in making cider were compound mentioned most frequently in the 14 Bond converted into steel mirrors bv the action of malic acid. a books is benzedrine (l-phenyl-2-propanamine or 2-amino compound which occurs natur&ly in apples. ~ e t t eknown, r -1- phenylpropane) (1). and perhaps more striking, are the many chemical references that can be found in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose renowned detective, Sherlock Holmes, is widely regarded as being fiction's most famous amateur chemist. More recently, many writers of detective novels have referred to some aspect of chemistrv in their plots. Perhaps one of the most dramatic examiles is found in ~ o r o t h ~ Savers' The Documents in the Case (3). in which a murderer was caught because he poisoned his victim'with synthetic muscarine instead of using the naturally occurring compound. The former is racemic; whereas, the latter is optically active (4, 5). Benzedrine, or amphetamine as i t is often called, is a From 1953 to 1966, British author Ian Fleming procentral nervous system stimulant and is an interesting duced a series of 14 books,' the hero of which was James compound with which to illustrate various aspects of Bond, secret agent 007. Throughout the sixties, seventies, amine chemistry. For example, it is a primary amine that and early eighties, the popularity of 007 was enhanced by . . contains a benzene ring, yet it is not an aromatic primary :I series of movies hased on these hooks, and even today, amine and, therefore, does not form a stable diazonium new movies featuring Ian Flrmintis Jumrs Bond are still salt; it is chiral; and i t can be prepared by reductive aminabeing produced. ~ h u ; the name &mes Bond is familiar to tion (see eq 1). most students. if not from the orieinal novels. from the screening of the older movies on tkevision, o; from the newer releases being shown a t movie theaters. Many ofthe Bond books and movies contain references to chemicals or chemistry, and the purpose of this paper is to show how some of these references can be related to a variety of topPresented in part at the 198th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Miami Beach, Florida. September 14. 1989. 'Casino Royaie (1953),Live and Let Die (1954),Moonraker (l955), Diamonds Are Forever(1956),From Russia, with Love (1957),Dr. No (1958), Goidfinger (1959), For Your Eyes Only (1960), Thunderball (1961), The Spy Who LovedMe(1962),On HerMajesty's Secret Service (1963), You Only Live Twice (1964). The Man with the Golden Gun (1965)and Octopussy (1966).For Your Eyes Only also includes From A View To A Kill, Quantum of Solace, Risico,and The Hildebrand Rarity; Octopussy also includes The Property of a Lady and The Living Daylights. All titles originally published by Jonathan Cape Ltd., London. A ' full list of all the chemical references appearing in the Bond books and movies is available from the author.
206
Journal of Chemical Education
Whereas the use of benzedrine as a stimulant is relatively common in Fleming's novels, sedatives are used more sparingly. When wishing to incapacitate a character temporarily, many fiction writers refer to the use of "knock-out drops" or a "Mickey Finn" meaning chloral hydrate, and Ian Fleming is no exception. In From Russia, with Love, Bond's adversary, Grant, admits to having slipped some chloral hydrate into a glass of wine in order
to sedate Bond's female travelling companion-an incident that can he seen in detail in the movie version of this adventure. Chloral hydrateis formed by the addition of water to trichloroacetaldehyde (see eq 2).
CI-C-C-H
I 0II
CI
+ H20
-
Ci
OH
I I CI-C-C-H I I CI OH
(2)
For most carbonyl compounds, hydrations of the type shown in eq 2 are equilibrium reactions, and the hydrate is unstable. However, in the case of trichloroacetaldehyde, the product is a stable yellow solid with a melting point of 57 'C. In the movie, Grant refers to chloral hydrate as being mild; whereas, in fact, the combination of chloral hydrate and alcohol can be fatal. Inorganic Chemistry In a n attempt to include some descriptive inorganic chemistry in their freshman chemistry wurses, some instructors may discuss the properties of the wmmon mineral acids. However, it is doubtful whether many instructors take the time to describe the properties of aqua regia, a 3:l mixture of wncentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids. Aqua regia has the ahility to dissolve all metals, including gold and platinum. The reaction between gold and aqua regia (see eq 3) is mentioned in the book Goldfinger.
Au(s) + 4ClUaq) + 3NO
