Scientists are very fond of talking about the importance of serendipity in research. This usually means one of two things. The first thing is “sure, my work appears to be incredibly niche and pointless, but don’t discount the possibility that I’ll stumble over a cure for cancer in the rectums of these worms I’m studying”. The second is “sometimes fuck-ups are salvageable, if you keep an open mind”. This paper is the latter sort of serendipity.

Your bond enthalpy’s beyond compare, you make the best non-stick cookware and we cannot compete with you fluorine.

We report the designed, synthesis and activity of a novel photoactivatable glucose derivative: a diazirine-conjugated benzoylated sugar (DiaBeTeS). We show that when cancer cells are treated with diabetes and subsequently irradiated with ultra-high doses of UV, they die.

A novel phenethylxanthine-type stimulant was synthesised in extremis, characterised in vivo and tested in corpore meo. Simple, locally-sourced organic precursors were employed, and the synthesis was conducted in an artisanal camper-van kitchen.