Every Molecule Tells a Story

Every Molecule Tells a Story, Second Edition continues the celebration of molecules responsible for the experiences of everyday life: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the chemicals that fuel our living, the steroids that give us sex, the colours of the seasons, the drugs that heal us, and the scented molecules that enrich our diet and our encounters with each other. You can’t see them, but you know that they are there. This latest edition presents new sections, including odorants, including their potential in the diagnosis of diseases and the possibility that they may improve our memory. Environmental issues appear, such as air pollution – both outdoors and indoor – and the need for recycling of plastics. It does not pass over the dangers of some chemicals, whether abused drugs, for example oxycodone and the fentanyls, or nerve agents, notably the Novichoks. Based on the highly successful first edition, this book brushes away any preconceived notions about chemistry to demonstrate its importance.

Key Features

• The author introduces his molecular collection by explaining the relevance of chemistry in our everyday lives.
• New discoveries are reflected in existing chapters.
• The chemicals are frequently put in context of their human associations, so that the book goes beyond just ‘the chemistry’.
• A celebration of the molecules of chemistry.

Simon Cotton obtained his BSc and PhD in the Chemistry department of Imperial College London, followed by research and teaching appointments at Queen Mary College, London, and the University of East Anglia. He subsequently taught chemistry in both state and independent schools for over 30 years, then in 2011 he became an honorary senior lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, where for five years he taught inorganic and organic chemistry. He has published research on the chemistry of iron, cobalt, scandium, yttrium and the lanthanide elements.

His “Soundbite Molecules” feature ran as a regular column in the magazine Education in Chemistry from 1996 to 2012, reaching every secondary school in the UK. He has written over 110 “Molecules of the Month” articles, which are featured online at http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/motm.htm and recognised globally. Additionally, he has delivered over forty “Chemistry in Its Element” podcasts for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry World website at http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/.

In 2005 he shared the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools Education Award and in 2014 was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work in chemistry and education.

He was editor of “Lanthanide and Actinide Compounds” for the Dictionary of Organometallic Compounds and the Dictionary of Inorganic Compounds between 1984 and 1997. He wrote the account of lanthanide coordination chemistry for the second edition of Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry and the accounts of lanthanide inorganic and coordination chemistry for the first and second editions of the Encyclopaedia of Inorganic Chemistry.

He has written nine books, two extending to second editions, of which this is one.

D. J. Cardin, S. A. Cotton, M. Green, and J. A. Labinger, Organometallic Compounds of the Lanthanides, Actinides and Early Transition Metals, 1985.

S. A. Cotton, Building The Late Mediaeval Suffolk Parish Church, 2019.

S. A. Cotton, Chemistry of Precious Metals, 1997.

S. A. Cotton, Every Molecule Tells a Story, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., 2012.

S. A. Cotton, Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry, 2006.

S. A. Cotton, Lanthanides and Actinides, 1991.

P. May and S. A. Cotton, Molecules That Amaze Us, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., 2015.

S. A. Cotton and F. A. Hart, The Heavy Transition Elements, 1975.