A Blockbuster Drug

Our latest film on The Periodic Table of Videos deals with a chemical called Sildenafil citrate.

But most people probably know it better as Viagra.

We were lucky enough to obtain a pure sample of the "active ingredient" from the company which developed it.

It was a rare opportunity to see a raw version of a really famous drug (the well-known pills are blue, but pure Viagra is white!)

The drug has multiple medical uses, but Professor Poliakoff was mindful of our wide audience when discussing Viagra's best-known application.



One of the things we were keen to discuss was the "green chemistry" involved in making Viagra.

As outlined in the video above, it once required a large volume of solvent to produce a tiny sprinkle of the powder... However a new process has greatly reduced the amount needed.

Process chemist Peter Dunn, mentioned in the video, even won an award (pic below) for his work lowering the amount of solvent used.



Professor Poliakoff, himself an advocate of green chemistry, often sites Viagra as a shining example in this area.

Here's some extra interview footage not used in the main video which expands on some of the issues...



Of course making a video about Viagra is not without problems.

The main inconvenience is that many email filters block the word "Viagra".... Several emails between myself and Professor Poliakoff went missing while we were discussing the topic.

Regardless, it's a video we're pleased with because this is a real chemical success story and a true "blockbuster" molecule.

Another Biblical finish line

A couple of months ago it seemed we'd reached the finish line for Bibledex.

We posted a video on the final book of the Bible - Revelation - completing the standard set of 66.

However we then decided to add videos covering the deuterocanonical books - aka "the apocrypha".

Put very simply, these are additions and extra books which appear in Catholic Bibles but not Protestant Bibles (there's obviously more to it than that!).

Well, now we've done videos on them too...

Here they are:

What next? We have some ideas but let's see what happens.

The Chemical Big Bird

We always love reading the comments people write about our projects - both positive and negative.

This comment about the Periodic Table of Videos on Twitter caught my eye this morning...

I've sent your vids to my highschool director and he said that where "the most educative thing since sesame street" great!

It got me thinking, which members of our team would be which characters from Sesame Street or The Muppets? Here's a few ideas...

A Fluorine Bonanza!!!

It's the most reactive element but Fluorine has long been one of the weaker films on The Periodic Table of Videos.

However we're gradually updating and improving all our element videos - and this week it was Fluorine's turn.

First up, here's the new version:



Fluorine is so reactive that very few chemists are equipped to handle it.

So we left our usual base (at the University of Nottingham, of course) and visited a colleague further south.

Not too far though - just 20 miles down the road at the University of Leicester (still in the East Midlands of England).

That's where Professor Eric Hope, a fluorine specialist, showed us all sorts of great stuff.

Eric originally had four demonstrations planned... First he used liquid nitrogen to cool fluorine, revealing a bright yellow fluid which looked like a urine sample!

Then he allowed very small pulses of fluorine gas react with steel wool (iron), charcoal briquettes (carbon) and cotton wool (mainly carbon).

However it was all so exciting that Professor Hope decided on the spot to dig out some Iodine and Sulfur - we did them too.

Here's a bonus video showing all the reactions from all the angles, including with our high-speed camera!

Didn't want anyone to miss a thing.



Finally, here's some extra interview footage with Professor Hope which didn't make the final cut but was still fascinating, so I posted it to our Test Tube site which shows you all sorts of extras from behind the scenes.

Another Mark of the Chemist

Another great example of "The Mark of the Chemist".

This one comes from the mysterious Nurdrage whose YouTube videos are known to many!


Click on the pic for a better view!

The scar - resulting from what Nurdrage called a moment of "epic stupidity" - really seems a perfect match for the one described in our recent video.



Here is a link to an earlier blog when another viewer shared their chemical scar.

Fluorine, Shroud or Viagra?

We've got a few fun films coming up on The Periodic Table of Videos.

But which would you like to see next? Simply vote using the small poll at the right hand side of this blog. (NOTE: THIS VOTE HAS NOW ENDED AND BEEN REMOVED - RESULTS BELOW)

The options are:

- Our first up close look at Fluorine (the most reactive element)

- The Professor's discussion of Viagra (including an amazing sample from the labs at Pfizer)

- A fascinating explanation of radiocarbon dating and the Turin Shroud, filmed on location in Italy

The winner will be uploaded in the next day or two. But don't worry, the losing videos will also appear soon after.

(POST SCRIPT: The winning video was Fluorine with 45% of the vote... Here's the video)

A chemist's scar

Following our video on "The Mark of the Chemist" I was amused to see this photo posted by one of our Twitter followers.


Our thanks to @IainHolder for taking the time to share it!

He, like so many before, seems to have acquired the scar after a mishap with laboratory glassware.

You can follow us on Twitter @periodicvideos and also on Facebook.

Here's the video which inspired Iain's post.