 |
By Paul Board
Authors note...With
sincere apologies to William Blake! -
Editors note - The numbers refer to explanations at the end of the
poem.
| |
Benzene! Benzene! Burning
bright
Belching engines day and night (1)
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame Kekulé's symmetry? (2)
Who'd have thought your
Carbon Six
Could have produced such toxic tricks
Or provide the building blocks
For a plastic world (and cure the pox)?
Aesthetic, perfect aromatic
Substitutes produce chromatic
Dyes that brighten every day. (3)
Thankyou Mr Faraday. (4)
Clothe our backs (5)
and cure our ills
Blow or dull our brains with pills (6)
Ironic that your homologues
Pollute our land and stock our smogs (7)
Benzene - your hydroxyl
daughters
Need locking up, they pollute our waters (8)
Adding chlorine provides persistence (9)
(Target organs keep your distance).
Doubt Kekulé
ever dreamt
Of such riches (or torment).
Oh benzene whether bound or free
Did He who made the Lamb make Thee ?
Benzene! Benzene! Burning
bright
Belching engines day and night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame Kekulé's symmetry ?
|
|
(1) Benzene is a significant constituent
of petrol
(2) Friedrich August Kekulé (1829 -96) is attributed with
elucidating the symmetrical ring structure of benzene C6H6 , claiming
as an old man that the idea of the carbon chain had first occurred
to him in the summer of 1854 on top of a London omnibus, although
the matter remains controversial
(3) Many synthetic dyes are based on substituted benzene molecules
such as aniline,C6H5NH2
(4) His portrait used to be found on the back of an old UK twenty-pound
note. He has since been replaced by Edward Elgar, who, interestingly,
also practised chemistry as a pastime. If you can get to London,
England, you can see Michael Faradays laboratory too, just off Piccadilly,
at the Michael Faraday Museum (alternatively, visit the Royal Institution's
website www.ri.ac.uk
).
(5) Benzene is used in the production of artificial leather.
(6) Benzene is used in the manufacture of medicinal chemicals.
(7) Benzene is a known carcinogen and can pollute both the air we
breathe and the land we live on.
(8) Phenols (benzene substituted with OH groups) and related compounds
are particularly hydrophilic (water loving) and pollute our waterways.
(9) Organochlorines such as organochlorine pesticides (DDT is an
example) and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) do not readily break
down in the environment and tend to bioaccumulate due to their lipophilicity
(affinity for fat), causing fatalities particularly at the higher
ends of the food chain.
 |
Paul Board CChem FRSC (b1958)
was born in Clapham, London, but now resides with his wife
and two children in North Wales in a rambling, ramshackle
gothic house overlooking the murky Irish Sea. After graduating
in Chemistry at the University of Leeds in 1980, he spent
several years 'at the bench' as an analytical chemist, and
his inchoate writing talent (?) was spawned in the laboratory
during the tedious moments many chemists have to endure. After
a six-month spell in Saudi Arabia and copious correspondence
with his fiancée (which may or may not be published
posthumously), he returned to the UK and got married (too
much sun can turn a man's head). Some of his part-time scribblings
may be found online at The Alchemist (www.chemweb.com)
with occasional pieces in New Scientist. You can contact Paul
at the following email address, where he would love to hear
from you! ppaul@pboard.freeserve.co.uk
|
Want to comment on this
poem? Send us an e-mail and we'll publish
your most interesting views on our comments page.
|
