holymoleculesbatman:

Molecules with strange names: Magic Acid 

It is a superacid consisting of a mixture, most commonly in a 1:1 molar ratio, of fluorosulfonic acid (HSO₃F) and antimony pentafluoride (SbF₅). This conjugate Bronsted-Lewis superacid system was developed in the 1960s by the George Olah lab at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and has been used to stabilize carbocations and hypercoordinated carbonium ions in liquid media. Magic Acid and other superacids are also used to catalyze isomerization of saturated hydrocarbons, and have been shown to protonate even weak bases, including methane, xenon, halogens, and molecular hydrogen.

vivasaigon:

at the Griffith during the annular solar eclipse

holymoleculesbatman:

Fascinating and complicated: Lignin

(C₉H₁₀O₂, C₁₀H₁₂O₃, C₁₁H₁₄O₄) 

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae. It is one of the most abundant organic polymers on Earth, exceeded only by cellulose, employing 30% of non-fossil organic carbon, and constituting from a quarter to a third of the dry mass of wood.