The carbene they made had an adjunctive “protective” molecule...so not a bare naked carbene...there are (from what little I read) other somewhat stable carbenes which are stabilized because the carbene is hooked up in a molecule...in this case it is hooked up also...but it appears to be relatively stable in water (which can make it useful in synthetic chemistry)..No mention of the human toxicity of the chemical “protectors”...how an almost unstable chemical (carbenes)found itself in the biochemical pathways of Vitamin B1 is mind boggling. Where are the genetic instructions that take that consideration into the blueprint for Vitamin B1 biochemistry?
In God’s Chemistry 101.......................