After the incident things settled down. I got to know everyone and was working hard to try and obtain a permanent position. Things were great there. You had lots of visiting lecturers and consultants, some of the best people in the world were you’re for 15-20 minutes and were normally a great help. Access to such chemists was, for me at least, wonderful and you learn a lot. In such a company you had experts for everything under the sun. Got a problem, ask so and so, they will help. I think every major scientific area except cosmology and the like were covered.

We had section meetings every week. Now, that may sound like a lot but they were optional and graced with wine and something to nibble at while we discussed the chemistry, the world and everything in-between. The attendance was actually quite high and you were also guaranteed a goodly supply of information. It’s amazing how quickly things can change! That first year they asked me, yes, asked, if I would like to go to Budapest to a Med. Chem. conference (in the other place you had to beg). So off I went, by train, first class with a day stopover in Vienna to play the tourist and nearly made myself ill with the Schlagobers. Two days later I was in the East. That was some border crossing, guards, searches, questions, passports scrutinised, money exchange and so on. It was like entering a prison, not that I have ever entered one, but I imagine it must be something like that like that. Of course I had the same going back out, perhaps worse. Anyway the meeting was worth it and Budapest as well as Vienna are cities well worth a visit.

Back in the lab I continued the sar series, there was one more slight mishap. I was making a re-supply of a starting material using the following reaction, one which I had done many times!

I started to distill the product  but instead of a liquid I got a smell, a smell so bad it defies description, except to say that a thiol is like Chanel No.5 compared to this. It got worse, complaints started as people left the building, again. Let’s not mention the flame that shot out of the thermometer attachment when I tried to remove it, let’s not. Those damm phosphines again. I don’t know what happened to this reaction, obviously the methyldichlorophosphine did not react properly and decomposed on heating. Anyway I cooled the lot down by immersing it in a dry-ice bath and called the fire brigade, who were already on their way. We packed the whole apparatus, oil bath as well, up in a fire blanket and transported it to the roof of another building and I got to ride in a real fire engine. Tossed the lot in a bunker, oil bath and all, shut the lid and went home. Last I knew it was still there, until years later they demolished the building.

Fortunately no one was hurt but they were all a bit cross at having to leave the building. But to  get ahead of myself nothing like that ever happened again. I was enjoying myself too much to take much notice especially when I was told I could remain and did not have to go back to that other place. So I signed on the dotted line and looked forward to a reasonable future.

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