Return To The Blue Lagoon

David McIlroy

SOLUTION:

This is a chemistry puzzle.

The names are from the Merck Index list of "Organic Name Reactions"--Merck is located in Whitehouse Station, NJ, and is the first google hit for "whitehouse station" with or without quotes.

"Arr! Oceana! Gems, Coin, Tin" is an anagram for Organic Name Reactions. I don't expect solvers to see that, but maybe they will.

The chemicals are either reactant or product of the named reaction. You need to figure out what the other chemical is.

Pinacol:	pinacol			*pinacolone
Wacker:		*propylene		acetone
Grundmann:	*acetyl chloride	acetaldehyde
Akabori:	valine			*isobutyraldehyde
Freund:		mustard gas		*tetrahydrothiophene
Clemmensen:	cathinone		*amphetamine
E'tard:		*toluene		benzaldehyde
Arndt-Eistert:	adipic acid		*suberic acid
(succinic acid is also possible, but won't fit in the blanks.)
Each missing reactant/product is of a different length, so there's only one place for it to go.

When you reorder all the letters (1-n), it spells ROTHEMUND REACTION CHLOROPHYLL HEME AND PHTHALOCYANINE DELINEATE YE BASIC STRUCTURE I BE YE RED EEL A PITY I DO POOP.

I BE YE RED EEL is kinda like a red herring, and everything after it is junk.

The Rothemund reaction is used to synthesize PORPHYRINs, which are the basic structural unit of heme, chlorophyll, and phthalocyanine.

TP is the IUPAC guide for naming tetrapyrroles, which include porphyrins.

Answer: PORPHYRIN