Chinese culture has long treated ailments using herbal extracts in intricate combinations. This oeuvre of herbal experimentation gave rise to purified forms more recognisable as medicines, of which Artemisinin is one success story.
Artemisinin: 青蒿素
Fluorescein: biology’s guide dog
One of the first fluorescent molecules to be synthesised by humans was Fluorescein. The imposing German chemist Adolf von Baeyer created it in 1871, and was awarded the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on dyes and aromatic compounds.