He said that thiols have nothing on selenols, referring to the smell.
I guess he didn't learn his lesson at Dartmouth. He knows how stuff smells.
He did say that he's been a little annoyed that so many chemists work to avoid water. Simple is better was a theme. (The event had a number of discussions of water in the prequel.)
As for selenium. I have made selenophenols and I know of what he speaks. When I finally started dating my wife - after chasing her for a number of years with no luck - I was working with these compounds. Wearing gloves did not prevent them from impregnating my hands. Years later my wife told me, after we'd been married, that the way I smelled was a problem for her, but she overcame it somehow. That was very, very, very lucky for me.
I worked for a company that made selenomethionine as a sort of side project; it wasn't my project however. (Recently I learned that the UGA stop codon actually evolved from a selenocysteine codon, and that even beyond bacteria, even in humans, sometimes that codon for selenocysteine is active.)
In the case where I was making selenophenols, I was at least trying to be safe; at least I was wearing gloves (in particular because I hated the smell) but I confess I was a bit of a slob in the lab. I'm certainly aware that one can absorb ethyl ether percutaneously.
For many years, I worked with phosgene. I recall walking with my wife in San Diego after a rain, and they mowed the grass and I said, "Wow, that smells like phosgene."
It is, of course, disturbing that I know how phosgene smells. A more careful chemist wouldn't, no matter how much he, she or they worked with it.
Somehow both Sharpless and I are both alive, one of our few similarities. He's an old man and so am I. As he began the talk, he was somewhat halting, but soon warmed up and was fascinating.
He put up a picture of Feynman and a quote of his: "I am intelligent enough to know how dumb I am."
I believe that applies to me, not that I'm anywhere near the level of those guys. It's a joke to make a comparison. At every major scientific meeting I go to I feel going in that I know something, and come out recognizing how stupid I am.
Thanks for the story about Sharpless. He wouldn't get away with that today.
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