Laurel Precedence

A top-down photograph of a circular petri dish containing a light-colored growth or crystalline structure on a dark, translucent agar base. The structure radiates from the center in a symmetrical, fern-like pattern with delicate, needle-thin branches. The entire dish is framed by a soft, out-of-focus white border, creating a vignette effect that draws focus to the intricate, feathery arrangement in the center.

Label: Laurel Precedence
Artist: Adam Campbell
Description: This is the crude mixture of a reaction I ran on relatively simple molecules to create precedence for doing the reaction on more complex and valuable molecules for reaction development. After getting the information I needed from the crude mixture, I accidentally left it in the back of my fume hood for about a month, and then looked into the round bottom flask it was in to find these crystalline projections had formed in a pattern that somewhat resembles the laurel leaves often found on medals. While the reaction itself certainly isn’t Nobel-worthy, I still take it as a good omen for things to come.
Type: Cell Phone Camera
Artist Affiliation: Graduate Student
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
Area of Research: Organic Chemistry
Research Group Site: Dr. Igor Alabugin
Date: 2021