Michael Freemantle
PodcastChlorhexidine
An antimicrobial compound that kills bacteria and viruses quickly – found in some of the most colourful antiseptic solutions
PodcastTannic acid
Tannic acid in green acorns can kill wild animals and livestock, but you can prevent poisoning with pannage pigs
PodcastCimetidine
Mike Freemantle introduces the peptic ulcer treatment cimetidine, which – as Tagamet – became the first blockbuster drug
PodcastSodium cyanide
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Baia Mare disaster, when toxic sodium cyanide spilled from a gold processing plant led to ecological damage on a huge scale.
PodcastCobalt oxide
From ancient Egyptian pottery to distinctive blue bottles, cobalt oxide has been providing ‘chemically and artistically perfect’ pigments for centuries
PodcastIminosugars
After some promising results treating ill pets, some researchers think iminosugars could become treatments for infection and even cancer. Mike Freemantle explores the buzz around iminohoney
PodcastBoric acid
Mike Freemantle revisits battlefield surgery to investigate boric acid, a key part of Dakin's antiseptic solution used extensively in the first world war
PodcastHydrogen sulfide
Mike Freemantle finds the connection between Land of Hope and Glory and the noxious, corrosive, flammable gas that stinks of rotten eggs
PodcastZinc polycarboxylate
Lay back in the chair and say 'Ahh', as Mike Freemantle introduces zinc polycarboxylate dental cement
PodcastTocopherols
Mike Freemantle discovers sea buckthorn fruits also called 'beauty berries' because of their high concentration of tocopherols and tocotrienols, collectively known as vitamin E
PodcastFerrous sulfate
The iron compound that has been turning oak gall extract into indelible ink for centuries, but is now eating though our ancient manuscripts and musical scores
PodcastCacodyl
It made Robert Bunsen seriously ill, Michael Faraday thought it 'barbaric' to use in battle and even Fritz Haber – the 'father of chemical warfare' – abandoned it after a fatal accident in his lab. This week, Mike Freemantle tells the story of tetramethyldiarsine, otherwise known as cacodyl.
FeatureThe great war clean-up
A century after the end of the first world war, the task of disposing of old chemical weapons continues. Michael Freemantle reports