Plural of hemin, a dark-colored compound derived from hemoglobin that is used in chemistry and medicine for identification and research purposes.
From hemin (from hem- meaning blood + -in, a chemical suffix), first isolated in the 19th century as a breakdown product of hemoglobin during chemical analysis.
Hemins were crucial in proving that blood's color comes from iron-containing compounds—when scientists heated dried blood with acetic acid and salt, they created these distinctive crystals that proved iron was hiding in hemoglobin all along.
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