In 1948, biochemist Isaac Asimov published a highly unusual paper detailing the extraordinary behavior of a chemical compound known as resublimated thiotimoline. The core discovery of his research was the compound’s “endochronic” nature—its staggering ability to dissolve in a solvent, such as water, exactly 1.12 seconds before the solvent actually makes contact with it. Through rigorous laboratory testing using automated pipettes and precise photoelectric timing devices, Asimov demonstrated that the dissolution of thiotimoline reliably precedes the physical act of adding the water, creating a strictly verifiable negative dissolution time.

Asimov attributed this chronological anomaly to the extreme molecular structure of the thiotimoline molecule. The compound features an extraordinarily crowded arrangement of hydrocarbon rings. According to the paper, this severe steric hindrance—the intense spatial crowding of atoms within the molecule—forces some of the chemical bonds to project outside of normal three-dimensional space. Consequently, these highly strained bonds extend into the temporal dimension, with some projecting into the past and others into the future. It is this forward-reaching temporal bond that interacts with the approaching water molecules, triggering the dissolution process before the physical liquid arrives in the present.

The conclusions of the paper suggest that thiotimoline could serve as an unprecedented tool for predicting immediate future events. Because the chemical will only dissolve if water is absolutely guaranteed to be added 1.12 seconds later, it acts as a perfect, localized oracle of causality. Asimov concluded that studying resublimated thiotimoline not only forces a radical reevaluation of the classical arrow of time and thermodynamic laws, but also opens the door to using endochronic molecules in advanced scientific instrumentation to measure the absolute certainty of both mechanical actions and human intent.