Abstract
Observations made in the course of experiments on pyridinium salts led to important discoveries in physical organic chemistry. The way in which the discoveries were made is likened to art rather than goal-directed "cold logic". We can describe the art of discovery as an effort enhanced by practice and intuition to recognize novelty in a finding and provide productive insight into its nature. We shall present some examples, and describe what happened after finding an unexpected light absorption band, a surprising solvent effect on spectra, and an unexpectedly stable and beautiful small organic radical.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1207-1211 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Canadian Journal of Chemistry |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2005 |
Keywords
- Art of discovery
- Charge-transfer complex
- Solvent effect on spectra
- Solvent polarity parameter
- Stable free radical