Capsaicin
18” x 24”
Acrylic on canvas
2010
$600

Capsaicin is the most common and most powerful capsaicinoid, a class of chemicals found in chili peppers. Capsaicinoids cause the painful, exhilarating sensation that accompanies peppers, and chili peppers have variously been bred to elevate their levels of capsaicin, or to eliminate it altogether. Its long alkyl tail makes it highly fat-soluble, and is the reason that capsaicin is not easily expunged with water or watery drinks. Milk, yogurt, or other substances that contain emulsifiers (raw eggs? mustard?) are more effective at rinsing away capsaicin.

Because capsaicin works on the heat-sensing nerves, the pain from chili peppers is described as “hot” or “burning,” to such a degree that the “heat” of a dish is used as a metonym for its spiciness. Because it acts so strongly on these nerves, temporarily overwhelming them at high levels and depleting vital neurotransmitters, capsaicin can be used therapeutically to block pain signals from certain parts of the body, making it an effective treatment for the severe, localized pain of diseases like arthritis and shingles.

Capsaicin also has the intriguing property of causing potentially agonizing pain without apparently causing any tissue damage whatsoever. Consequently, it is used in riot control (so-called “pepper spray), as a mammal repellent, and as a staple element of practical jokes.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, and nitrogen blue. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas

Caffeine
12” x16”
Acrylic and soap on canvas
2010
$300

Caffeine is a purine compound, debatably an alkaloid, found in a wide variety of plants. It is responsible for the stimulating effects of tea, coffee, yerba mate and guarana, is present in small amounts in chocolate, and when recovered from decaffeinated coffee, caffeine is added to many soft drinks. (In some, like Barq’s root beer, the intensely bitter caffeine is billed as a “flavoring agent”.)

The effects of caffeine are mostly due to its similarity to the neurotransmitter adenosine, and caffeine is an antagonist of adenosine receptors. Although the process is not very well understood, it seems that the brain releases adenosine when under stress, suppressing neural activity, causing sleepiness, and increasing blood flow. By blocking the effects of adenosine, caffeine helps maintain brain activity at high levels.

Because caffeine constricts the blood vessels of the head, it is commonly taken as a treatment for migraines, both alone and as an adjunct to more potent medicines. Conversely, caffeine withdrawal can cause the opposite effect — as the brain responds to the presence of an adenosine antagonist by increasing its production of adenosine, the sudden removal of caffeine can cause dilation of the blood vessels in the brain, and crippling headaches.

Caffeine being a stimulant drug, it is subject to some of the same concerns surrounding more noxious stimulants. Overuse of caffeine can cause nervousness, mania, disorientation, and general psychomotor agitation. Death by caffeine overdose is not unheard of, although rare. Unlike many other drugs however, caffeine abuse is uncommon, perhaps moderated by its tendency to cause nausea in large doses — as anybody who has ever drunk a whole pot of coffee on an empty stomach may know. It may be that this combination, a drug that encourages thought, work, and conversation, but discourages overuse, are what have made caffeine the drug of choice for our inventive, wide-awake society.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, and nitrogen blue. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas

Heme
24” x 24”
Acrylic on canvas.
2009
$1000

Heme is the constituent of hemoglobin which is most directly involved in the transport of oxygen through the bloodstream. Heme consists of a modified porphyrin ring coordinating a large central iron atom, which binds to oxygen molecules in the lungs, and releases them in the tissues. This process is controlled by the hemoglobin protein, which also binds to the iron atom, and flexes as the pH and CO₂ levels change. As the protein flexes, the affinity of oxygen for heme changes.

Heme is also responsible for the lurid color of blood, and to a lesser extent, the color of red meat. Heme coordinated with carbon monoxide is even more vividly red — meat is gassed with CO to brighten its color, and victims of carbon monoxide poisoning often appear eerily pink. Similarly, poisoning by some drugs, or a genetic abnormality can result in methemogloginemia, a condition in which the iron in heme is oxidized to a +3 oxidation state, turning it bluish-brown, rather than red. Sufferers of methemoglobinemia have bluish skin.

The form of heme depicted here is heme B, the most common form in humans.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, nitrogen blue, and iron rusty orange. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas

Sarin #2 ((R) enantiomer)
2010
Acrylic on canvas
11” x 14”
$200 Sold!

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, phosphorous orange and fluorine chartreuse. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
2010
Acrylic on canvas
11” x 14”
$300 Sold!

We’re almost alone in our inability to make our own vitamin C. Humans and other higher primates join guinea pigs and a few bats and birds, as the only animals that need to eat a certain amount of ascorbic acid daily to maintain good health. In nature, primates consume an enormous amount of fruit, rich in vitamin C, so it’s understandable that we might not need to manufacture our own. When humans left the trees however, and started living in deserts, on ships, and in the arctic, vitamin C became a problem.

Vitamin C is required in large quantities relative to other vitamins, and is chemically unstable, so it’s likely that any population deprived of fresh fruits and vegetables for an extended period will develop scurvy. Since vitamin C is especially important for maintaining and rebuilding collagen, the parts of the body that rely on collagen fail first. Gums bleed, skin tears and discolors, and teeth fall out. But since vitamin C is required by all parts of the body, scurvy soon becomes general — ending, of course, in madness and death. Vitamin C is so deeply ingrained in the health of all animals and plants, being one of the most important cellular anti-oxidants, that without it, we simply fall apart.

Perhaps because few diseases so obviously resemble a complete absence of health as scurvy, vitamin C occupies a pedestal in the world of quack medicine. Whatever ails you, somebody thinks vitamin C will cure it. And because vitamin C is so non-toxic (it causes diarrhea, but that’s nothing to worry about), the recommended doses spiral up and up, in an insane bidding war: The US government recommends 90 mg per day, so the Linus Pauling Institute recommends 400. Patrick Holford recommends 4,000, while Dr. Pauling himself took 18,000. The Vitamin C Foundation says to take 30,000 mg daily to treat cancer, and they report that the Cathcart/Levy regimen for infectious disease involves a staggering 300,000 mg of vitamin C per day.

Quackery has come a long way. It may be the case that even now, some unfortunate soul is choking down 10 solid ounces of pure vitamin C.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, and oxygen red. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas