Chris Nawrat

Process Chemist at Merck. Dad. Immigrant. Rock climber. Cyclist. Photographer. Beer enthusiast. I used to write under the pseudonym BRSM.

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@jcisar and I are co-chairing this year’s Princeton ACS Symposium. This storied annual meeting is older than the Suzuki cross-coupling and you can register for this year’s free online event using the link below. See you there!

[justin cisar @jcisar]

We are 10 days from the 2021 Princeton ACS Fall Organic Chemistry Virtual Symposium 🧪⚗️!!
Register today at https://t.co/bCZxypix9p @PrincetonChem

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

If it gets too hot in my garage, will my screws racemize? It’d be a pain to have to resolve them back to enantiopurity, but I really need the (P) isomers.

After reading a couple of helicene papers, my view of the world has changed.

[Dani Schultz @danithechemist]

Kelsey is awesome and kicking ass on his #MerckChemistry internship!

#FollowFriday one day early 😂

[Chemistry World @ChemistryWorld]

‘It never fails to make me feel like an alchemist – or a magician’ – @BRSM_blog reflects on the development of radical chemistry

https://t.co/NUZaxvRnMa

[L.-C. Campeau Ph.D. @DrLCsquare]

Great to see our new mural celebrating the Process R&D legacy of innovation outside our seminar room in Rahway. Nice job by @DrKevinMaloney and @BRSM_blog who helped design it! #MerckChemistry

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

Pin milling is where you put the API in a ziplock bag and then bash it with a rolling pin, right?

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@jack_t29 Thanks man! We’re good. I hope things are working out in the Midwest!

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

If you want to attend a FREE virtual conference with four great speakers, consider registering for the Princeton ACS Fall Organic Symposium. This is open to anyone, anywhere, although our platform limits us to 1000 registrants! Sign up now — details below!

[justin cisar @jcisar]

The Princeton Section of the ACS is hosting the 42nd annual Fall Organic Chemistry Virtual Symposium on Oct 23, 2020
Register today! https://t.co/iILWLoHE0Q

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@ais1992 This is what it looked like when I was there! I’m not actually sure why I even took a photo

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@cindym_hong @danithechemist I’m also really digging Plan Bee Brewery in Poughkeepsie right now. It’s another farm with about 20 acres you can wonder around and sit out in. Feels very safe and they often have live music in a field. It was Theo’s first brewery!

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear test. If you’re interested in a great non-fiction book, The Making of the The Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is one of the best things I read this year. Great stories and descriptions of all the scientists behind it!

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@Dereklowe @elonmusk With the previously-announced gigafactory he’ll have five orders of magnitude covered!

[Ian @biscuitsgod]

When the pubs re-open, it doesn't mean the virus has gone away. It just means they have room for you in intensive care.

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

Lab-based friends, please don’t label your wash bottles with sharpie. After moving to a new lab, I have just washed my organic phase with what I now suspect was not deionized water, but rather household bleach. Sadly it didn’t even get rid of the yellow color.

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@AnotherSmithLab @ChemistryWorld You’re right!

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@VincentJGray Yeah, that was a hot target for sure, although it’s maybe not super useful now unless there’s another flu pandemic!

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

Here’s an opinion piece I wrote for Chemistry World on the recent Baran group synthesis of taxol (spoiler: I am a fan)

[Chemistry World @ChemistryWorld]

‘It’s pretty rare that the Venn diagram circles of ‘molecules useful to society’ and ‘molecules synthetic chemists want to make’ coincide’ – In this #OrganicMatter, @BRSM_blog investigates (–)-Taxol

https://t.co/kHrXZdAjcO

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@Chemjobber I’m on the organizing committee for the now-online Princeton ACS Fall Symposium and the debate we had yesterday was if it should be free or $5. Honestly, I think we’ll make it free.

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@Chemjobber That’s wild. The ACS had free registration for its Green Chemistry and Engineering conference this week and it got great engagement; it’s probably never had the kind of attendance it got. It’s not like the costs are high — does the ACS normally make money on these conferences?

[Chris Nawrat @BRSM_blog]

@Dereklowe In industry or academia? I haven’t seen this kind of issue since I left academia. I had a friend in grad school that became so allergic to vinyl sulfones by her second year that her lab had to abandon a whole research program based on them!