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Topic: Very strange chemical formula  (Read 5088 times)

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Offline Solarhawk

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Very strange chemical formula
« on: October 19, 2007, 05:06:33 AM »
This formula really is a bit of an enigma to me. I found a piece of paper from when I was in the Navy, where I was a "Nuke", a Machinist's Mate for 8 years. I know the writing is mine, I just have no idea what this formula is in reference to. Also, not sure if it helps any, but it's written on the back of a chart we had for firefighting agents, including a fire hose, PKP (Potassium Bicarbonate), AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam, a soapy stuff), and good old CO2.

So, without further ado, the formula:
(C738H1166  FeN203O208S8)

As a side note, I'm not 100% sure on the number for the sulfur, as it's somewhat faded, but I'm fairly certain it's 8. If it's not 8, then judging on the fading, it could be a 2.

Enjoy the enigma! This truly is a mystery to me, as I can't recall for the life of me what it is, but a molecule like that sure sounds fun!  ;D

Solarhawk
P.S. If anyone reading this thinks they know where I got the name Solarhawk from, you're probably right (it's unchanged from the usage I took it from)

Offline Borek

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Re: Very strange chemical formula
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2007, 05:20:53 AM »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin

Note: no, I didn't remembered it. But it is obvious that it must be some huge biological molecule (most likely protein) with iron in it.
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Offline Solarhawk

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Re: Very strange chemical formula
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2007, 05:23:18 AM »
Wow, thanks, I would have never remembered on my own, but at least I was right, it sure is a fun chemical, being that it lets us breathe  ;D

Now I just have to figure how why I would have written down the chemical formula for Hemoglobin on the back of a piece of paper with firefighting stuff.... ah the joys of trying to figure out my brain  :-\

Solarhawk

Offline Solarhawk

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Re: Very strange chemical formula
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2007, 05:30:13 AM »
On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin it says the most common human hemoglobin is C738H1166N812O203S2Fe. I find it somewhat odd that I had it written in a different format, and also the number of Nitrogen and Oxygen are quite vastly different. Any ideas?

Solarhawk

Offline Borek

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Re: Very strange chemical formula
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2007, 06:00:07 AM »
Order of elements doesn't matter. Note that such an empirical formula is in fact completely useless, as it doesn't tell a thing about the compound structure.

As for differences - 208 looks very similar to 203, N203 is a very likely error done when copying such formula (203 is the same number as number of atoms of oxygen). I am not telling you did that mistake - you may have copied it from the source that was already wrong. IMHO it is haemoglobin just with typo in the formula. Feel free to waste your time looking for alternatives ;)
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Offline AWK

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Re: Very strange chemical formula
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2007, 06:13:04 AM »
We should not discuss here about hemoglobin. This formula concerns eventually myoglobin, and the whole group of proteins with 1 iron atom is called hemoproteins.
AWK

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