Fifty Fascinating Molecules: From A to Z, Volume 2 continues the series begun with Every Molecule Tells a Story, Every Molecule Matters and Fifty Fascinating Molecules From A to Z, Volume 1, bringing another fifty stories of molecules – some everyday, some little-known – to the general reader. As before, each chapter combines narrative with accessible science, and familiar names sit alongside surprising ones: the vinegar acid acetic acid and the nail-varnish-remover solvent acetone rub shoulders with cobalt chloride and Zeise's salt, reflecting the author's own background in transition metal and organometallic chemistry.

• Many important medicinal molecules are featured, including Acyclovir, Galanthamine, Ibuprofen, Testosterone, Tramadol, and Vinblastine and the other vinca alkaloids
• Several molecules with distinctive smells and flavours are discussed, including Benzaldehyde, Carvone, Eugenol, the banana esters, and the floral molecules behind jasmine and rose oil, notably β-Damascenone
• Unpleasant odours get their own chapters too, including (E)-2-Butene-1-thiol from skunks, Dimethyl disulphide from the Titan arum, and Incensole acetate, the psychoactive constituent of incense
• Four vaping-related molecules are covered, including Acrolein, Diacetyl, Ketene, and 6-Methylnicotine
• Several explosive and hazardous nitro-compounds are included, such as 2,4-Dinitrophenol, 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine, Nitroglycerine, and 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT)
• Two important polymers are discussed, Kevlar and Poly(tetrafluoroethene) (Teflon)
• Several molecules important in the environment are included, such as Nitrogen dioxide, Peroxyacetylnitrate, and Deuterium oxide (heavy water)
• Other notable molecules featured include Ammonia, Strychnine, Nonen-2-al (linked to ageing skin), and 1,8-Cineole, the eucalyptus-oil component associated with koalas and, more recently, memory enhancement

The book is complemented by a detailed bibliography of references from the original literature, providing all the background information one could reasonably expect for each of the fifty molecules detailed throughout the chapters.

Simon Cotton obtained his BSc and PhD in the Chemistry department of Imperial College London, followed by research and teaching appointments at Queen Mary College, London, and the University of East Anglia. He next taught chemistry in both state and independent schools for over 30 years, then in 2011 he became an honorary senior lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, where for five years he taught inorganic and organic chemistry. He has published research on the chemistry of iron, cobalt, scandium, yttrium and the lanthanide elements in particular.

His “Soundbite Molecules” feature ran as a regular column in the magazine

Education in Chemistry from 1996 to 2012, reaching every secondary school in the UK. He has written over 110 “Molecules of the Month” articles, which are featured online at

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/motm.htm and recognised globally. Additionally, he has delivered over forty “Chemistry in Its Element” podcasts for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry World website at http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/.

In 2005 he shared the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools Education Award and in 2014 was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work in chemistry and education.

He was editor of “Lanthanide and Actinide Compounds” for the Dictionary of

Organometallic Compounds and the Dictionary of Inorganic Compounds (Chapman and Hall) between 1984 and 1997. He wrote the account of lanthanide coordination chemistry for the second edition of Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry (Pergamon) and the accounts of lanthanide inorganic and coordination chemistry for the first and second editions of the Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry (Wiley).

This is his eleventh book; his previous books are

D. J. Cardin, S. A. Cotton, M. Green, and J. A. Labinger, Organometallic Compounds of the Lanthanides, Actinides and Early Transition Metals, London: Chapman & Hall, 1985.

S. A. Cotton, Building The Late Mediaeval Suffolk Parish Church, SIAH, 2019.

S. A. Cotton, Chemistry of Precious Metals, London: Blackie, 1997.

S. A. Cotton, Every Molecule Tells a Story, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., 2012: second edition 2026.

S. A. Cotton, Every Molecule Matters, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., 2026.

S. A. Cotton, Fifty Fascinating Molecules from A to Z, Volume 1, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., in production.

S. A. Cotton, Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry, Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons, 2006; second edition 2024.

S. A. Cotton, Lanthanides and Actinides, Basingstoke, England: Macmillan, 1991.

S. A. Cotton and F. A. Hart, The Heavy Transition Elements, Basingstoke, England: Macmillan, 1975.

P. W. May and S. A. Cotton, Molecules That Amaze Us, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., 2015.