With Pokemon GO creating a wave of outdoor activity as folks immerse themselves in augmented reality, I pondered if there was potentially a chemical equivalent that could be developed for teaching purposes. Paul Bracher (blogger name: ChemBark) had similar thoughts and suggested Pokemon ORGO, where augmented reality could be used to catch various functional groups, presumably to link this to reactivity and other properties. The possibilities to use this technology as a teaching tool for chemistry are very exciting and I really hope some clever person out there does it.
Anyway, whilst sitting in an airport recently, I wondered what molecules would be funny if they popped up in a Pokemon GO-inspired, augmented reality chemistry app. Suddenly the antibiotic Augmentin popped into my head. The play on words was irresistible to me, so I drew the actives in Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanic acid) onto a pic I took of the room I was sitting in - Augmentined Reality. That's right - it's not a typo!
Amoxicillin (left) and Clavulanic Acid (right) - In retrospect they could have done with some faces!