Science: when serious names are not enough in Chemistry

Imagine that you are a scientist involved in researching all day because it is your passion. But what happens when you make a discovery? What kind of names do you choose to name it?

In chemistry we know that the element Helium, for example, was named like that because there is a lot of it present in the sun and we know that other chemical names have a logical origin and explanation, but how about that you got tired of serious names?

Why not call a new protein Pikachurine, for example?

Well, this is what happened to the Japanese researcher Shigeru Sato who named a protein of the retina in honor of Pikachu, and like this there are other funny names.

The Drosophila hedgehog gene has a point appearance in fruit flies similar to a hedgehog. It was identified in 1980 by the biologists Christiane Nusslein Volhard and Eric Wieschaus who received the Nobel Prize in 1995 for this discovery. The English geneticist Philip W. Ingham and his research group discovered similar proteins in vertebrates in 1994: Desert hedgehog, Indian hedgehog and Sonic hedgehog. While the first two have names related to hedgehog species, the last one, which is key to the formation of the neural tube in humans and other vertebrates, is a protein named after the Sega video game character.

When a bat bites its victims, it inject them with an enzyme known as demoteplase that works as an anticoagulant and was described since 1966. Years later, scientists realized its potential utility for the treatment of patients with embolisms that obstruct the blood flow to the brain. The draculina was developed in the late 1990’s with this task and of course, named in honor of the Count Dracula.

Cadaverine is a toxic compound produced during the animal tissue rot and was described in 1885 by the German physician Ludwig Brieger. Consequently, the relationship between its name and its appearance is immediate.

Another toxin that has an unusual name is vomitoxin, which is a mycotoxin of grains such as wheat, oats and corn and is known by this name as it is associated with the rejection of pigs for food that contains it.

In addition to the previous names, there are many more such as the diabolic acid, the magic acid and the Titanic acid, or, by their shape, compounds such as barrel, casano (as house in Spanish) and the olympian whose form is resembles the Olympic rings.

Even, there is the bastardane? The unwanted son of hydrocarbons whose structure is different from them.

Any more to add to the list?