This chapter introduces a distinction between two sorts of scientific narrative, modelled on Ted Porter’s discussion of thick and thin description. In thin narratives, sequences of processes and experimental interventions are presented in a highly conventionalized form, their notation often assembled from a stock of familiar elements. Thick narratives, by contrast, offer a greater degree of context and contingency and may be attentive to social, environmental and other considerations. The distinction is discussed with examples from chemistry; I suggest that chemical reaction schemes, written to describe organic syntheses, are examples of thin narratives. But some chemists, as well as historians, geographers and sociologists who study chemistry, have expressed reservations about what such accounts leave out, and seek to develop modes for narrating chemical processes, experiments and impacts which can provide a thicker account.

Phase-transfer catalysis involves chemical reactions which occur in a two-phase liquid–liquid system and it has been shown to provide an effective method for organic synthesis. Phase-transfer catalytic reactions can facilitate high conversions and reaction selectivity and thus are consistent with the principles of green chemistry and process intensification. The basic mechanisms involved in phase-transfer catalysis and the related suite of reactions that involve catalytic transfer hydrogenations are briefly described and reviewed. The requirements and benefits of phase-transfer catalytic systems are summarized. Organic syntheses which exploit the principles of phase-transfer catalysis are described as examples of intensification. These include: synthesis of phenyl alkyl acetonitriles, transfer hydrogenations, alkyl oxidation and sulfonation reactions, etherification of cresols in a three-phase system, organic oxidations, nitrations, polymerizations, and organic condensation reactions. The enhancement of phase-transfer catalysis using other intensification methods, such as ultrasonics, is also described.

Over the last decade, there has been an increased focus on describing condensed carbonaceous matter in rocks in several ultramafic settings and in experiments. This organic carbon – unaccounted for until now – seems to be ubiquitous in the crust, with profound implications for the deep carbon cycle and the sustainability of deep microbial ecosystems. Among the suite of abiotic organic compounds that may have formed abiotically in serpentinizing systems in particular are molecules of prebiotic interest, including a series of amino acids. In this chapter, the geochemical pathways for the abiotic synthesis of condensed carbonaceous matter are described, as well as the thermodynamic stability of such compounds and both their biotic and abiotic processing in the crust.