Photo: VCG

In a case of reality imitating art, two chemistry professors in the US state of Arkansas have been arrested for cooking up methamphetamine in a university lab - in an uncanny echo of the hit series Breaking Bad.

Bradley Rowland, 40, and Terry Bateman, 45, were taken into custody Friday after an investigation initially launched by Henderson State University's police service, the Clark county sheriff's office said in a statement.

It all began with an "undetermined chemical odor" reported at the university's science center on October 8 in the small town of Arkadelphia, according to Tina Hall, the university's communications director.

"Initial testing indicated an elevated presence of benzyl chloride in a laboratory," she said. Benzyl chloride can be used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The building was closed and an investigation launched by university police, who eventually called in the county sheriff's office.