Update 02-12-12: If anyone wants/needs a copy of the original image without the text and arrow added, you can find it here.
Some of you may remember this synthesis of the world's longest polyene from a few months ago, covered by See Arr Oh here. I'm not going to say much about the the chemistry of this synthesis (Wittigs. Shedloads of 'em), or its significance, but I'd like to post a little addendum to the work here.
I just got an email from a friend of mine who, upon reading the paper, asked the obvious question 'but what color is it?'. Lycopene, of course, is famously red:
Unable to find a answer to the question in the paper itself, or the Supporting Information he contacted the authors. After a few days, they sent a short reply and a beautiful image:
Now, how often do organic chemists get colours like that?
