/sci/ - Science & Math

>>7350889
>>7350889
If, lets say your university gave you the choice of synthesizing any compound as long as its synthesis isn't too complex OR extracting the major constituents of a plant of your choice, cannabis, papaver somniferum, papaver rhoeas....what choice would you make? I need to choose one of these, what would benefit me the most in terms of hands on experience?

Post a synthesis or pharmacological study that I can read. I'm bored and I enjoy this type of shit

What are some extremely useful "name" reactions that aren't typically taught in orgo 1 or 2? I did some research of my own and came up with Beckman Rearrangement, Heck reaction and the Baeyer-Villiger reaction as being potentially useful synthetic components.

Any other ideas? Anything that makes syntheses take less time, for God's sakes.

>>7350913
Depends on what you'd like to do.

If you choose to synthesize a complex natural target, you'll get a lot of hands-on experience with running reactions, reaction methodologies, stereoelectronics, air-free anhydrous chemistry, and basic purification techniques. You'll have a general skillset that can be applied to a lot of general organic fields of study and good hands when you need to run tougher experiments (e.g., kinetic measurements).

If you want to do isolation chemistry, you will predominantly learn basic tricks to isolate compounds based on a number of factors (solubility, pKa's of active moieties, polarity, boiling point/volatility, etc.). In addition, you'll have a *great* feel for how certain functional groups react/are tolerated in certain conditions. I'm not in this field, but people joke (or are serious??) that these guys get to go to exotic places and collect sea sponges or shit in the tropics as part of their research, which sounds pretty nice.

I'd say if you want to do a "pure" science go for synthesis, but if you're more interested in biological/medical applications go for isolations.

>>7350987
"Strategic Applications of Name Reactions in Organic Synthesis" has a lot of great reactions that are big staples in the field, along with relevant examples.

Heck reaction is excellent, but other cross coupling methods are arguably more powerful (Suzuki, Stille, Kumada, Negishi) because you can do more than terminal olefins with high selectivity. Buchwald and Fu have that stuff on lockdown in terms of state of the art (e.g., sp3/sp2) cross couplings.

Are there any interesting layman's books on the subject? Perhaps with a rudimentary understanding of chemistry

>>7351034
"Chemistry" by Linus Pauling is a great general resource that will impart basic trend. Some of it is dated or oversimplified (his analysis of hybridization, e.g.) but it's nonetheless a good general start.

A general organic text is going to be difficult to find because you have to capable of understanding basic organic conventions/structures to learn anything of interest. A beginner text isn't a bad idea, maybe David Klein's textbook [very watered down intro organic text] is most appropriate.

>work in a small group, in a cozy but under-funded lab
>our current project basically relies on this precursor galactoside (phenyl β-D-thiogalactoside) as the starting point for all our syntheses
>until now we've been using this big batch that was cooked by this post-doc who left a while ago
>we ran out last month
>I've been tasked with figuring out how to make more
>been trying to get these fucking reactions to work for the past three weeks but the thing keeps anomerizing on me and giving me this disgusting sticky α/β mixture
>everyone's main projects are brought to a halt until we have more of this stuff, they switch to side-projects until I finish this
>pressure is mounting, it's killing me
>ungodly amounts of thiophenol are involved, this shit smells disgusting
>decide to suck it up and run the reactions on a fucking 80 gram scale, finish it off by running my product through this fat column as big as my dick
>Been letting this shit recrystallize in the fridge for a day now, I finally have nice pure fluffy crystals

feels good guys
pic related, monstrous silica column I had to run to separate the α and β. My mixture was about 66% β, and the rest of the reactions were high-yielding so it wasn't too bad (and we have unlimited galactose so it's all good). The rest of the α might come in handy later.

>work in a small group, in a cozy but under-funded lab
>our current project basically relies on this precursor galactoside (phenyl β-D-thiogalactoside) as the starting point for all our syntheses
>until now we've been using this big batch that was cooked by this post-doc who left a while ago
>we ran out last month
>I've been tasked with figuring out how to make more
>been trying to get these fucking reactions to work for the past three weeks but the thing keeps anomerizing on me and giving me this disgusting sticky α/β mixture
>everyone's main projects are brought to a halt until we have more of this stuff, they switch to side-projects until I finish this
>pressure is mounting, it's killing me
>ungodly amounts of thiophenol are involved, this shit smells disgusting
>decide to suck it up and run the reactions on a fucking 80 gram scale, finish it off by running my product through this fat column as big as my dick
>Been letting this shit recrystallize in the fridge for a day now, I finally have nice pure fluffy crystals

feels good guys
pic related, monstrous silica column I had to run to separate the α and β. My mixture was about 66% β, and the rest of the reactions were high-yielding so it wasn't too bad (and we have unlimited galactose so it's all good). The rest of the α might come in handy later.

>>7350889

Maybe you guys can field this one as it's been bugging me for a while. What is the difference between the measured average pH of a solution and the real pH 'experienced' by a given molecule in that solution? Since pH is stochastic can't the later differ radically from the former for any given molecule? Also, can the charge topography of macromolecules like proteins manipulate this variance to create localized spikes or dips in H+ concentration in order to facilitate redox rxns?

>>7351034
Check out organic chemistry and graphic design. I've been using it and it's a great intro and it's got the added be night of being free online.

Anyone here ever carry out diversity oriented syntheses? I made a power-point presentation on these for a grad class and they're probably where the future of medicinal chemistry is gravitating towards.

Or how about click chemistry, multi-component reactions, cascade reactions, or combinatorial chemistry? Anyone with any experience?

Total linear syntheses, which my small lab does, are time consuming and costly in comparison to some recently developed synthetic strategies towards drug candidates.

I wish I had my sources or powerpoint handy. I read a lot of recent articles on this stuff. In particular its quite interesting how they quantify skeletal diversity and "chemical space" with special software and then try to maximize both of those. And usually relatively simple reactions that go spot to spot are used, but just many different substrates. This new research is going to help us keep up the fight against the incoming resistant super bugs.

>>7350987
I learned heck and Baeyer-Villiger reaction in ochem 2 o.o

>>7351305
>the real pH 'experienced' by a given molecule in that solution
I always saw pH as a macroscopic property. Not sure your perspective makes much sense.

>the charge topography of macromolecules
You make want to look into electron density and topology rather than pH, then. Orbitals, delocalization, σ-holes and other funsies...

>>7351181
Sheeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

>>7351305
Provided you have a homogeneous solution, there is no difference between measured pH and "experienced" pH. Diffusion is an entropically-controlled process: think about the insane enthalpic driving force you would need to have various concentrations of acid in your solution to overcome the entropic cost of letting the protons diffuse. If you have a heterogeneous solution, you may have a higher experienced pH at the interface of your two phases.

>>7351989
What school did you go to? I can nearly guarantee you that your o-chem courses aren't as rigorous as UGA's. I have seen orgo tests for other, more prestigious universities that were 100x easier and less in-depth. So I'm curious.

>>7350913
That picture gave me cancer.

>>7351989
>>7350987

All named reactions are considered trivial. That is why they are named.

The "name of the game" right now is C-H activation (aka making the saturated carbon reactive) and sp3 activation without the use of heteroatoms or large transitionmetal catalysts.

Read Hartwig's "Organocatalysis..." text if you want details.

>>7351181
That looks like the fucking column from hell

Why would you not just triturate multiple times with opposite polarity until you get a few crystals and then recrystallize in a 5L rbf (or a 1L multiple times over, if you don't have larger)?

Too bad organic chemistry is pleb undergrad tier shit that fucking robots can do now.

>buy a benchtop lab automation robot
>have it run 64 organic synthesis simultaneously
>63 organic chemists are now out of a job

Any ol plebe can throw shit in a round bottom and see if it reacts.

I heard organic chemistry positions are all moving to china now.

>>7351181

>this plebe who doesn't work in the hood

Put your chemistry lab straight into the trash. You realize silica gel gives you lung cancer right?

>>7353745

Sounds like someone hasn't heard of medchem ;^)

>>7353752

>a glorified organic chemist

NOPE.

Sounds like someone hasn't heard of chinese being able to work for cheaper :^)

>>7353754
>imblyign chinese have the resources and highly skilled teams available for informed drug design

Go back to your structure-based pleb science and don't forget that your final exam is coming soon! Study up, kiddo!

>>7353758

>implying I'm an undergrad
>implying I would waste my career on organic chemistry that any plebe can do

#rekd

>>7353762

>>implying I would waste my career on organic chemistry that any plebe can do

I...actually agree. We can both look down on the pleb organic chemists that just do the same old hecks and grignards day after day.

Too bad you can't apply this to most Medicinal and Mechanists.

>>7351779
DOS was a fad that fooled some people into thinking that it was more than dressed up combichem, but most of us actual scientists (not the MBA twits who run pharma now) saw through that about 10 years ago. Get with the times.
You do have my full support in going after new antibiotics, though good luck finding work in that area.

>>7353668
What is UGA?

>>7353728
Do you mean Hartwig's Organotransition Metal book? Because organocatalysis is pretty much the polar opposite of what he does.

>>7353734
My reaction mixture was a sticky syrup full of thiophenol, decomposed sugars, and α/β. This was the only way I could think of. I ran this fucking column from 10:30AM to 11:30PM.

>>7353750
Like I said, the lab is underfunded. We only have two fume hoods and they're full of even nastier shit. I put on a face mask when loading the column, and I think I should be good once my eluent is in.

How would you synthesize sclareol from sclareolide?

>Yes, this is a reload of this post >>7350128

>>7350889
Helloz dear anonz,
I'm new to chemistry, could someone help me understand the nature of floating agents (collecting and other) ? Thanks.

>>7354220
>floating agents (collecting and other)
Makes no sense at all to me. Rephrase your question?

>>7354222
well, as far as I understood, the collecting agent is a deinking agent, some sufractant

>>7354226
Still unclear. Provide some context.

Did you mean "foaming agent" rather than "floating agent"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant

>>7353728
There are a couple of C-H activations that are named, interestingly. Barton Nitrite Esters (or just the barton reaction) reaction adds an oxime at the 5 position, and chlorination is possible too.

(I agree with your post in general however, just thought I'd mention it for those interested).

>>7354219
Here's my attempt, sorry this is long but here I go:
1)Hydrolyze the ester with acid and methanol
2)Protect the exposed alcohol with sodium hydride followed by benzyl bromide
3)Hydrolyze the methyl ester again, this time with water.
4)Turn the resulting carboxylic acid into an acyl chloride using SOCl2
5)Use a methyl gilman reagent on this (CH3)2-CuLi
6)Remove the benzyl protecting groups simply using hydrogenation (H2 + Pd/C)
7)Use a grignard reagent to squeeze on the alkene (CH2-CH-MgBr).

Note the last step will produce a mixture of two diastereomers.

Not really a chemist but how soluble is this molecule in water?

I mean, it's not exactly symmetrical, but as I understand, methyl branches don't change a molecule's polarity that much because the CC bonds cancel eachother out and hydrogen atoms are attracted to more electronegative carbon atoms?

Apologies for dumb-dumb question.

>>7355364
I'd imagine this wouldn't be very soluble in water at all.

>>7355350
Only problem is the carbon chain is one longer in the product than in the SM. After hydrolysing the lactone to the acid, you'd want to homologate it for one extra carbon (with adequate protecting group strategy for hydroxyl). Could try Arndt-Eistert Homologation. After that your method seems fine.

>>7355514
f-fug

I didn't even know this was a thing
You learn something new every day

>>7353728
You say that like C-H activation is the most important field that every big name is working on. Alkyl-alkyl cross couplings, electrophile/electrophile cross couplings, and photoredox are all worthy of being called "the name of the game". Especially when C-H activation is getting saturated and the biggest names are moving away from arenes with directing groups and trying [with great difficulty] to activate alkyl positions other than acetoxylations.

>>7353745
Data analysis is the hardest part and a robot still can't do that. It's easy to evaluate yes/no, but you have to need to steer the robot and that's where you need human talent.

>>7353769
If you think all organic chemists do are Hecks/Grignards, you're a shithead.

>>7354802
Barton Nitrite Ester is a C-H abstraction methodology, i.e. where a radical does an h-atom transfer. C-H *activation* is when a metal [palladium] heavily acidifies a C-H bond such that you can metallate at that carbon.

>>7354219
Racemic synthesis:
1. Reduce ester to lactol [probably easiest to do w/ LiAlH4 and then re-oxidize the primary alcohol via Stahl oxidation or otherwise]
2. Do Wittig to one-carbon homologate to the methyl ketone
3. Add vinyl grignard [2 equivalents to deprotonate the free alcohol prior to addition across ketone]

The tertiary alcohol stereocenter is going to be very difficult to set; you may need to do a resolution unfortunately.

>>7355915
Whoopsies, forgot to hydrogenate the double bond or do a selective 1,4 oxidation. My bad. That's easiest before adding vinyl grignard .

>>7353754
>Outsourcing it to china
Yeah I'm certain lawyers are going to fucking love that.

Besides all jobs are being outsourced to china/india

There is literally no need for engineers,chemists,CS majors,mathematicians, accounting and even architecture. because it can all be done over a phone and online.

Anyone have a good Chemistry reading list?

I really wish I went Biochem chem-track instead of Biology. I love organic chemistry and wish I could do it more.

>>7355514
>Arndt-Eistert Homologation
Nice one. A bit dirty though?

>>7355915
>>7355922
>Reduce ester to lactol
Did you mean reduce lactone to aldehyde + alcohol? That is -CO-O- + H2 = -CHO + HO- (with a ring opening) rather than -CO-O- = -CH(OH)-O- (lactol).

>Stahl oxidation
Never heard of. How does it work?

>Do Wittig to one-carbon homologate to the methyl ketone
I can't see how. Wouldn't a C-1 Wittig reagent on the aldehyde yield a terminal alkene?

Oh wait, there's a special reagent for the homologation of carbonyls...
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methoxymethylenetriphenylphosphine

Is there a future for organic chemistry?

Hey, folks. I'm trying to get into mass spectrometry for OChem right now and I came across something that's bothering me:
I have (2,2-dimethylpropyl)-Benzene and I am suspecting peaks at m/z=57 (from the iso-butane radical) and m/z=91 (from the benzyl cation) which is actually half-right. However, the latter peak has only about 50 % rel. abundance while m/z=92 has 100 %. This doesn't add up in my head. Where does this 1 amu come from? I probably failed to take some effects into consideration, but which one is it? Halp!

>>7356704
Nevermind, I figured it out. I forgot to consider the McLafferty Rearrangement.

>>7354188
>My reaction mixture was a sticky syrup full of thiophenol, decomposed sugars, and α/β. This was the only way I could think of. I ran this fucking column from 10:30AM to 11:30PM.

should have just triturated with ether and hexane and called it a day. Fuck yield

>>7356704
post teh lc trace

>>7356244
>Did you mean reduce lactone to aldehyde + alcohol? That is -CO-O- + H2 = -CHO + HO- (with a ring opening) rather than -CO-O- = -CH(OH)-O- (lactol).
These species are typically in equilibrium and you can frequently react the lactol as though it is a free aldehyde. For context: you can buy 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran (at a king's ransom), but you can't buy the corresponding open-chain aldehyde w/ free alcohol.

>Never heard of. How does it work?
See: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cs400689a

A lot of oxidation protocols will take diols up to esters upon lactol formation, so you might need to be careful picking conditions. The Stahl Oxidation, in fact, has been known to do this (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b01036)) so you might need something with good stoichiometric control (Dess Martin, e.g.)

>Do Wittig to one-carbon homologate to the methyl ketone
You can use all sorts of stabilized ylides. There are tons of aldehyde-homologation reactions (Horner Wadsworth Emmons, Julia olefination, etc.) that you could use.

>>7357199
julia a shit

peterson olefination is better

>>7357034
I did exactly that, as well as other variants. It just settles back into that nasty ass fucking syrup.

Honestly I think figured out what was wrong with my synthesis, I acetylated the galactose at a lower temperature but longer duration and ended up with virtually no α sugar. This behaved much better and I got nice fluffy crystals and shit, I made sure to document this well for the next nigger who has to do this.

How well researched are glycoalkaloids and tropane alkaloids?
Do any of you actual organic chemists have any experience with them?

Evening all

I'm just a lowly undergrad who has just got my first year results back, and judging by my grades and my own personal interests, I think I want to make inorganic chemistry my focus.

Is it worth it? Are there any jobs for it/worth going into? I'm in the UK at the moment but am looking to emigrate to Germany after I graduate my masters.

>>7357224
Yeah, >>7351181 here, I wouldn't call myself an actual organic chemist quite yet, but I've spent the past few months synthesizing analogues of pic related.

Solubility is fucky and structure elucidation becomes a pain in the ass, but I truly love glycochemistry and the molecules can behave in very interesting ways.

>>7357212
Just an example, man.

>>7357224
Tropane alkaloids include things like cocaine: they're probably been well-studied. Glycoalkaloids as well.

am I the only one get gets a chubby when reading about cascade cyclization products?

>>7357323
Inorganic is a dead field. It is mostly computerized and DFT can predict any inorganic complex formation with near total accuracy. Organic hasn't reached this level of complexity yet, but it is also much harder to analyze and there is a different market for the product compounds.

If you want to go into chemistry, I would suggest push to the microbio niches. They are gaining momentum and a lot of traditional synthesis students are moving towards bio.

>>7360270
Not the same guy, but it seems from the outside than the organometallics field has quite a bit going on, certainly at my university. What about that?

>>7360304
Hartwig's organotransition metal catalysis will give you a basic idea of cutting-edge TM catalysis.

Acyl anion equivalents from nitrogen and carbon are more interesting in academia right now, but transition metal cats are useful in scale operations. Pick where you want to end up and THEN move toward your niche.

Best of luck to you.

>>7360270
Taking a more inorganic approach to organometallic chemistry is a highly desirable field because there are a lot of huge scale problems (nitrogen fixation to get away from Haber-Bosch) that chemists need catalysts to solve, but we don't know how to design them yet. >>7360270 says that it's dead because you can predict them all, but synthesizing them and figuring out what new catalysis they can do is incredibly valuable.

>>7350913
>If, lets say your university gave you the choice of synthesizing any compound as long as its synthesis isn't too complex OR extracting the major constituents of a plant of your choice, cannabis, papaver somniferum, papaver rhoeas....what choice would you make? I need to choose one of these, what would benefit me the most in terms of hands on experience?

depends on what you need the experience for.
since you list a bunch of drugs, you might be interested in clandestine operations?
in that case, go synthesize a bunch of amphetamines. they're fairly simple molecules (compared to other drugs at least) and have very interesting effects on the mind.

>>7360338
>it's dead because you can predict them all, but synthesizing them and figuring out what new catalysis they can do is incredibly valuable.

Most of modern academic research is trying to move away from TM catalysis and into SP3 C-H activation and C-N activation using conditions, phase transfer, and organocatalysis (eg carbenes & het-ylidenes). Don't take it as an insult that I am putting the importance of inorganic synthesis aside: I am in my 4th postdoc and it is just material that builds up in your mind after awhile. You get a sense for what is important and what isn't at a given time.

>>7360355
extraction is lame. You literally just put a plant/biopart in a soxhlet and let it reflux for a week. instant 100% yield.

>>7360433
C-H activation is *dominated* by transition metal chemistry. Hartwig aryl chemistry, Sanford/Gaunt/Yu palladium chemistry...much more than that too. Fuck, Nickel cross couplings with uncommon electrophiles or cross-electrophiles (Weix, Jarvo, Watson, Doyle, Molander) is picking up steam.

I just disagree, but I'm not insulted.

>>7350889
I'm going to be taking Orgo 1 in the fall, and frankly, I'm terrified. I've heard nothing but horror stories and conflicting advice on studying and the difficulty of exams and such.
So I decided to spend the summer studying and preparing so I'm at the very least familiar with what's going on.
Do you guys recommend any textbooks?
I'd like one thats decently well written, is popular enough to be torrented, and has a summary + questions at the end of each chapter.
Thanks a ton

>>7361096
Textbooks are just going to drown you in information. Try to learn the logic of the chemistry, and what driving forces are present.

>>7361115
>Textbooks are just going to drown you in information. Try to learn the logic of the chemistry, and what driving forces are present.
See, this is the type of advice I'm trying to avoid.
I just want a good textbook to prepare myself with man

>>7361096
Anyone?

>>7361214
This is structured differently from most undergrad organic texts and is, obviously, focused on reaction mechanisms as opposed to multistep synthesis.
"The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms"
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=7AFE7376860515AAF51F56DDA174A08A

Compliment it with this:
"Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach"
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=5C136D7B4CE81FC311880460FFD368BA

Organic isn't really that difficult, just don't fall behind.

>>7361221
I'll look into it thanks

>>7361124
I found Clayden to be a good introductory text. Go through the exercises at the end of each chapter in particular.

How do chemist select the atom they want to react if there are more than a few chemically active groups? Say create a pi bond at a selected group of carbon atoms by removing hydrogens ? Or Bind a benzene ring to another benzene ring , or simply add a functional group to a selected carbon atom in a huge molecule.
In other words are there any resources that would explain such reactions as this >>7355350 work. So one could use that information on other molecules , i cant seem to find such things.
Basically how do chemist know where stuff will bind to and disconnect from ?

>>7361612
Over many decades, strategies involving 'protective' or 'protecting' groups have been developed - a reactive functional group is converted into an inert (to certain conditions) group and is then later - after reactions elsewhere in the molecule - unmasked.

That's what >>7355350 is trying to do when he suggests converting an alcohol to a benzyl ether, carrying out reactions at the acid, and then later uses hydrogenolysis (note not hydrolysis) to re-form the alcohol.

Here's the latest edition of "Green's protective groups in organic synthesis"
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=cb8b3c3a53759a1634fc887c0a239925

More recently there has been a push to abandon protective groups and, of course, this means coming up with new reaction conditions that are highly selective.

This is not fundamentally new. It has been understood that sterics and electronics allow for differential reactivity. Highly hindered sites undergo reactions slowly or not at all, allylic and benzylic sites are favorable to radical chemistry, etc.

Take a look at Phil Baran's website - his whole program (at least as recently as 5 years ago, when I stopped paying attention) amounts to 'let's make this natural product w/o P.G.s by developing more selective methods.'
http://www.scripps.edu/baran/html/publications.html

>>7361642
I see.
I also cant seem to find any resources that would explain the nature of reactions and factors that lead to it like orbital locations , electron density and such. Also the internal workings of catalysts are also unknown to me.
All the textbooks i can seem to find don't exactly explain that except for this reacts to this in this way when such a catalyst is introduced.

>>7361049
Take a look at the asaps each week in jacs, j org chem, and angewandte.

Each has at least 2-3 non metal catalysis papers. TM are expensive, dangerous, and passé.

>>7361214
Memorize everything and DON'T FALL BEHIND WITH YOUR FLASH CARDSS.

Most successful students actually write their flashcards during lecture while the deluge of info is still fresh.

>>7361743
Dunno about you guys, but I'd rather just pay attention to the lecture than distract myself with writing stuff. I can find that shit online anyways.

I just don't like having to bring my work home.

>>7361740
Today on the JACS ASAPs:
>Hartwig palladium cross coupling
>Chang directed arylation w/ palladium
>Beller alkoxycarbonylation with palladium
>Sarpong rhodium-catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles
>Shaik/Nam Ru(IV)Oxo mechanistic study
>Duboc manganese dioxygen activation
>Dong rhodium-catalyzed hydroamination
>MacMillan photoredox (iridium) beta-Mannich
>Hartwig (again) iridium-catalyzed benzylic borlyation
>Buchwald copper-catalyzed lactonization
>Gaunt copper-catalyzed arylation of allylic amides
>Shi palladium-catalyzed sp3 C-H activation
>Kempe cobalt-catalyzed selective 1,4 reduction
>Baran iron-catalyzed hydromethylation
>Bower rhodium-catalyzed azocane syntehsis

There are more, but I'll stop here. You can't get bigger names in the field (Buchwald, Gaunt, Hartwig, MacMillan, Baran) if you tried. How on earth can you believe that TM catalysts are no longer important or passe?

>>7361642
This isn't just Baran, mind. There are a lot of protocols for selective oxidations of primary alcohols in the presence of secondary alcohols and vice versa. Methods chemists have been working on selective (regio-, chemo-, and stereo-) for ages.

>>7362092
I'm not the previous commenter, but I would point out that it's easy to publish on obscure niche TM transformations, but finding ones that the folks in industry actually find worth using is an entirely different matter.

>>7362092
jacs is a multidisciplinary. post j org chem or j cat chem or j angwandte.

If you only read jacs, you are likely an undergrad or a shit-tier researcher

>>7361096
there is a lot to learn. become adept at steteochemistry whenever it is discussed or you will fail. when you start learning mechanisms, understand why the reactions are occurring and not just memorizing what happens. it's easy to fall behind because there's so much to cover and that's what will ultimately kill your grade.

>>7361096
>>7363103
Whatever text your professor uses and also clayden organic chemistry.

Phil stop shilling your lame ass uncreative research here.

Nobody wants to go to scripps for a reason

>>7363081
Says the guy who wrote "j angwadte"

>>7363138
i huff a lot of ether erryday hue

What drugs can I synthesize?

>>7363279
don't bother, just pick up a bunch of diphenhydramine. If you are cheap and you just want a short high that requires maintenance (lots of dosing) but is fairly "healthy" compared to lsd or meth or something, you can try hydrogen peroxide.

At the store they sell 3% and 9% solutions next to the isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and witch hazel. IGNORE THE ISOPROPYL alcohol. it is POISON.

Hydrogen peroxide is just fizzy water, but the fizz comes from oxygen not CO2. The effect is that HOOH becomes HOH by losing an oxygen and the oxygen goes to your brain and stimulates thought, as though you were breathing.

So you can correlate faster and more potent thought patterns with the amount that you ingest (and thus, that reacts and releases oxygen). The oxygen isn't a free-radical so it won't oxidize anything and kill you, and it makes its way to the brain because it "catches a ride" on either a kinase protein or a water molecule in your blood.

Kind of fun and most kids don't know about it because they want to be less stimulated (alcohol) rather than more stimulated and smarter. Music sounds better, you will perform better at sex and at dancing, many chemistry students use it for school (me and my peers usually drink about 250 mL of 9% H2O2 the day of an exam, with 150 mL *right* before taking it), and some more savvy users drink it for a burst before lifting. It is not recommended for heavy cardio, as it will leave you feeling sluggish after it wears off when you are doing aerobic activity (aka it uses oxygen).

>>7350889
I'm starting o-chem in the fall, what should I expect/what are some good study materials I can get before hand.

>>7363379
>but is fairly "healthy" compared to lsd or meth or something

Stopped reading there.

No one listen to this retard.

>>7363379
LSD has a lethal dose in the gram range and a threshold dose of like 25 micrograms. It is literally the safest drug out there provided you are mentally sound. Meth is also relatively safe if you don't have any heart conditions and are not prone to abuse.

>>7363379
>Don't bother
Maybe he's into chemistry. Since this is an organic chemistry thread.
Amphetamine is relatively easy to synth, just don't go for the shake and bake biker meth bullshit, if you have the resources available to get good quality ingredients then go for it.

Extractions of different drugs are easy too, like Morphine base from Opium Poppy(papaver somniferum only, don't get those corn/field poppies known as papaver rhoeas) Ephedra Sinica has ephedrine and other analogues, certain acacia species also contain DMT the list is endless.

>>7363404
See
>>7361096

>>7360355
My HOD will give the go ahead on the amphetamine synthesis, I've already talked at length with the supervising research professor about things that are viable for synthesis from Ephedrine derivatives to artificial cannabanoids and nothing is off limits bar Heroin. Codeinones are possible but the raw materials aren't readily available.

>>7363379
>>7363749
>>7363823
>>7363836
http://420chan.org/

>>7363379
Sounds legit.

>>7363027
Most stereocenters in drugs are set by asymmetric hydrogenation with a rhodium/ruthenium catalyst. That *alone* should demonstrate that pharma cares deeply about these reactions.

>>7363081
>j. angwandte
>implying J Org. Chem. isn't sloppy seconds for JACS
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

>>7363379
was about to reply angrily when I saw the stuff about hydrogen peroxide, 10/10 would trick a stoner with.

Thought I was doing good in Ochem I until I got my 2nd exam back. 56%. Thank god I can do a project for an extra 20 points.

>>7365856
That's missing a methyl group and doesn't even have an octet on the nitrogen. Shit wallpaper.

Any of you organic chem guys able to check my first year chem shit?
>>7366345
>>7366404

People often do sodium hydride reactions in DMF. Why doesn't the hydride reduce that amide? I know amides are fairly stable, but would the reduced version be floating around your solution?

>>7368152
Any sort of hydride source (LiAlH4, DIBAL, Selectride, NaBH4) has two competing reactivties: acting as a base or acting as a hydride source. Sodium Hydride tends to be more basic than hydridic; you can use it for enolate chemistry (very useful if you need a thermodynamic enolate over a kinetic enolate) or general deprotonations without worrying that it will reduce a carbonyl of choice.

It also helps that amides tend to be much harder to reduce than most carbonyl compounds because of the resonance structures. You can selectively reduce aldehydes and ketones in the presence of amides in most cases.

I know diddly about chemistry. I'm into mycology, however and I'd like to know exactly how they interact with your immune system and what compounds in them are good for you since supposedly fungi are healthy.

>>7350889
What is the least suspicious way for me to buy laboratory glassware and assorted equipment?

>>7352794

What about colloidal mixtures like milk or cytoplasm? These are extremely heterogenous.

Is there a collection of practice NMR spectra out there that I can play around with? I'm not talking first year orgo shit; I've been trying to wrestle carbohydrate NMRs and I feel like I could use the practice dicking around with the more nuanced details like coupling constants and ring strain and shit

>>7371617
I'm only finishing 2nd year of uni so I cant help you with your problem, but was there something (Internet) that helped you with studying the more basic stuff of analytical nmr?

>>7372146
Yeah there's countless sources on the internet, just google it. The problem is they don't often go beyond basic concepts.

>>7350889

>>7361096
Remember it's a critical thinking class, NOT a memorization class. Yes some rules and exceptions you'll have to memorize, but my orgo prof was a dick with his tests and put shit on there that would purposely be something you've never seen before in the homework or in class but had the same underlying concepts going on. You have to be able to analyze problems, not copy paste mechanism and other shit

The reason you hear so many horror stories is because would-be premed and prepharm students have to take the class, and most of which up until now have relied mainly on memorizing to get the grades they want. This class hits those students like a fucking truck Very few get As in this class memorizing their way through

That's not to say it isn't hard. There is a lot of concepts to go through as others have said.

>>7371617
You've might have already seen this website, but in case you haven't..

http://sdbs.db.aist.go.jp/sdbs/cgi-bin/cre_index.cgi

You can look up nmr for any molecule as long as they have data for it

>>7363379
I chuckled

>>7374517
So how does K-ON relate to O-chem?

>>7361214

>>7361743
This is literally the worst advice for orgo I have ever heard. NEVER try to memorize it, because once you start to try to memorize, the prof will throw something similar to it but not identical and you'll be fucked. You need to draw everything. Multiple times. And then draw it again. You'll start to see trends in reactivity and then you can use these general trends to figure out problems.

Study mechanisms. Mechanisms are the key.

Also, try to find organic chemistry as a second language by Klein

>>7374608
Yeah I use it when characterizing my spectra on the side for reference. I just wish it gave access to higher resolution images.

OH GOD YES

Is ethyl 2-hydroxylbutyl proper nomenclature?

>>7375025
Better question is is that naming this compound correctly. if not what do?

>>7375025
Better question is is that naming this compound correctly. if not what do?

>>7350913

Why would you not re-make woodward's strychnine

>>7370131
Tough to say. Proton pumps move H+ across membranes but I would imagine that cellular fluid is buffered to maintain relatively constant pH.

Milk? Probs homogenous enough.

>>7351181
>figuring out how to make more

WTF. You're post-doc didn't document a Kg synth?

>>7353758
>structure-based drug design


HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA imbligyng a machine can't do that shit

If you aren't on the cutting edge, fuck out muh science

>>7354118
hartwig does to organocat.

Do you even read jacs or jorgchem?! wtf

Have you read his book?!

>>7354220
They are also called "surfactants." Mainly described by party polar and partly nonpolar. This results in partitioning between polar and nonpolar phases within a single molecule & at around 0.02 M in 0.8 M isooctane/water they form micelles (bubbles). Reverse micelles (phase reversal lamellar layers) are also very common as synthetic vacuoles.

Go ahead and assume that all "floating agents" are more sol'b in aqueous than organic and it will help you.

>>7355364
>methyl branches don't change a molecule's polarity that much

PLEASE DO NOT THINK THIS.

Methyls change a property called ClogP (partition coefficient between octanol and water) significantly. A low ClogP means a significantly polar molecule and vice versa. "Polarity" has a variable measurement, otherwise (it is quite variable with solvent).

In drug design a methyl vs proton can mean an order of ClogP. Try to focus on overall organic character in the intended environment, rather than specific moiety in a given reaction.

>>7360437
100$ extraction is not 100% yield

>>7361096
Don't listen to the people who say "don't read your textbook."

They are fucking trolls. As an organic chemist, I can tell you that you have to work from first principals and STAY AHEAD OF YOUR PROFESSOR.

No matter what happens, do NOT fall behind or you will be staying up all night for weeks.

Just study for 3 hours daily and make sure that you are proficient with arrow-pushing and you will get an A.

>>7361221
WHY would you recommend grossman to an undergrad.

It will be extremely confusing to them. That book is meant for people who have had at least 3 years of lab experience. Most undergrads will spend hours looking up SM's, reagents, and obscure methods.

Don't do that ever again. Also, disconnection is appropriate only for researchers.

You are either really egotistical or you need a reality check, anon.

>>7362092
baran gets a hard-on for every protection/deprotection scheme. Forget him now.

>>7363130
lmfao

kekking so hard since I was going to post this

>>7375035
2-hydroxybutyl ethanoate. Esters are named by naming the alcohol first and then the acid.

>>7363130

don't you love when you have an insoluble product that you have to work up in suspensions EVERY TIME?

Fuck my life.

>>7361049
>ignoring rovis

You are shit.

>>7363379
peroxide is def my fav drug.

I would buy the 9% if I were u. it only costs like $1 more. Plus the only way to make a higher concentration from the 3% is to distill, which is a waste of time. Just chug like half of bottle of 9% and a couple (literally ONLY 2-3 tabs) diphenhydramine/benedryl. If you take more than 2-3 you will have a bad trip. Otherwise, you will be on an acid trip.

>>7363823
top fucking kek

shake and bake meth is hilarious

>>7368152
amides are NOT REACTIVE AS ACIDS. Amines are.

This is why people call them "basic amines" rather than amines. The confusion comes from the fact that amide carries a wide variety of connectivites (eg: TFA-amide is the R-CO-CF3 compound from trifluoroaceticanhyride or trifluoroacetic acid and R2-anhydride

>>7371617
Don't worry so much about pinning down every single peak unless you are working in an organic synth lab.

Just look for diagnostics that should BE SUPER OBVIOUS (aka triplet & quartet in EtOAc or a strong methyl singlet)

>>7374517
what a disgusting image

i just barfed up all of the rum i drank tonight you owe me 20 bucks.

>>7365856
who the fuck made this fail pic

>>7375025
>>7375035
Nomenclature is bullshit. As long as you can name heterocycles nobody gives a shit

>>7375136
B-but I do work in an org synth lab anon, I just started this summer and that's why I wanted more resources

>>7375104
...he frequently attempts syntheses without protection/deprotection sequences and advertises that fact?

>>7375118
Wasn't meant to be all-encompassing...yeesh!

>>7371617
http://www.amazon.com/Spectrometric-Identification-Organic-Compounds-Silverstein/dp/0470616377/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436151486&sr=1-1&keywords=spectroscopic+identification+of+organic+compounds

This book (or an older addition) has great examples to work through that will be demonstrative.

>>7375112
Oh wow I fucked up wrote it like an ether thanks a lot

>>7375144
the fuck?

>>7375058
>Do you even read jacs or jorgchem?! wtf
Nigga I publish in both, and they are abbreviated JACS and JOC.
Specify a Hartwig paper that you think is organocatalysis, and then we'll explain to you what organocatalysis really is.

no love for based Rovis or Vanderwal in this thread. Those guys and that canadian fuck Glorious are my heroes.

>>7361096
If you just want the basics check out Khan Academy's videos. I used them as a supplement during my ochem 1 class and they helped clear up some things. What >>7374589 said is spot on. I did my worst in ochem 2 (still passed with a mid-C even though I gave up towards the end) because I relied on memorizing, not understanding. I also stopped reading the book. I understand the material better now that I took a biochemistry class but I still don't remember much of the types of reactions.

When I was younger my chemist dad warned me away from chemistry because he was worried about accidental exposure. To be fair to him, my dad got his degree in the days before OSHA and his professors had gotten their degrees in the days before fume hoods. Has laboratory safety negated the dangers of organic chemistry?

>>7376656
The most dangerous part of my day (as a lab chemist) is the commute. Ban cell phones while driving and maybe then we'll have a toss up.

>>7376656
>explosions

Only if you're retarded enough to not know what you're doing. Nobody will let you work in lab if you don't have basic understanding of synthesis. It's been this way for the last 100 years .

>>7376762
He said that the field was "too stinky" specifically. He did tell me a few stories about accidental explosions though. One about a guy losing fingers to a polymer that couldn't have been predicted to be unstable at the time and another who blew up his commercial lab making fireworks. The guy with the fireworks got away with it by threatening to counter-sue due to insufficient safety equipment.

>>7376769
>too stinky

I fully agree, jesus christ
>mfw thioacetone

>>7376762
muh UCLA indian girl

>>7377025
i fucking gagged when i read it

tfw you smell dms whenever you see the name swern

What are you guys majoring in? Biochem major here

>>7377025
>Trithioacetone is a white solid (CAS#828-26-2). It is a white solid with a disagreeable odor.
>literally on the wikipedia page

>>7377025
>>7377417

Perhaps, I am not the best person to work with aromatic compound. It is not about recognizing the smell of any aromatic compound but it is because I easily getting fainting and vomiting when I smell something nasty. Not being a chemist is the best gift the heaven ever gave me.

>>7377463
Perfume, deodorant, cologne or whatever… most of them smell nasty to me :(

If a perfume can make me fainting, I can imagine how thioacetone work for me. It is perhaps the worst aroma human ever smell.

>>7355950
^ this I need Ochem reads

I'll just leave some clutter here, I don't know anything about organic chemistry.

What does the prefix "N-" refer to? As in Histamine N-Methyltransferase. Does it refer to some varying number of functional groups?

>>7377608
It signifies an attachment of the annotated functional group to a nitrogen atom. In your example, there is a methyl group attached to the nitrogen on the amine tail of histamine. There can also be superscript characters on the N to further describe which nitrogen the attachment takes place at, in molecules that have more than one option.

>>7377628
Interesting. Thanks.

>>7375203
I won't go as far as to agree with the dick who first responded to you (>>7375144), but nomenclature is kind of bullshit in this day and age. The most common things all have trade names and the largest molecules have names that are too long to be immediately useful, especially in the digital age where you can easily/quickly render structures.

>>7375276
Very few people are talking about specific research programs in this thread, presumably because few people here will ever do srs organic research and have to know the literature.

>>7377680
>Very few people are talking about specific research programs in this thread, presumably because few people here will ever do srs organic research and have to know the literature.

/sci/, ladies * germs

>>7378066
To be fair, nobody who is capable of such discussion wants to get bogged down talking to people who won't understand it willingly or otherwise.

>>7378884
but if people capable of such discussion decided to to talk then there would be people who understand it willingly or otherwise

Hola anonz,

I'm new to chem and have a question.
If I do have a compound name and the CAS number for it, how to know where it is mainly applied, in which industry used ? Are there any free online data bases ? Thanks.

>>7380087
A lot of times if you search for it on Sigma it'll give a brief description of application.

>>7378989
>>>7379375

Let's try it out.

Could a physics undergrad get into organic chemistry at all?

I'm going to uni for microbio in the fall, and organic chem is a requirement. I've heard the course be referred to a weeder class, is this true? And what should I know so that I'm not fucked by surprise come August?

>>7350913
Order a bunch of glycerol, some nitric and sulfuric acid. And about a truckload of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

Get a free visit from the FBI.

>>7380979
Physical Organic Chemistry was, for a long time, a huge branch of organic chemistry. It's waned a little bit in terms of modern popularity, but there's a small, active community pursuing it in the modern day.

If you're interested at all in computational chemistry, there are a *ton* of opportunities in that field because a lot of the methods/synthesis jocks don't know how to use those methods appropriately.For a really good post about it, see:
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2015/03/06/not_even_wrong.php

You may also want to check out recent work by Matt Sigman at Utah.

>>7381083
Can you get glycerol from something from the grocery store?
Bacon, ground beef?

>>7380979
To dovetail >>7381626, try: http://comporgchem.com/blog/

>>7381630
Personal lubricants, usually listed as glycerin.

Anyone got any ideas for phenibut synthesis?

Sup guys, >>7351181 here.
Time for le bloge post

>Lab partner was rotovap'ing something
>The safety clamp was faulty and her flask fucking falls into the water bath, 2 weeks worth of work right there
>I stick my hand into the thing to grab it, I burn myself because she likes to rotovap at almost 100C
>She gets a mental breakdown, I notice this thin film in the water bath and dip a pipette in it
>Fuck around with TLC a little
>It's the compound
>I isolate a little bit of it and test to see if it's soluble in ethyl acetate
>It is
>I grab the jug of ethyl acetate and pour a good bit into the water bath
>it forms a top layer, the film disappears into it
>I painstakingly scoop out the layer with a 25 ml pipette into a big flask
>Takes an hour of pipetting
>Lab partner still freaking out the whole time
>Finally I'm done
>It's on the rotovap now

Holy shit guys this has the potential to be crazy
This lab is fucking insane

>>7382677
Every organic chemist ends up doing one extractive recovery from the rotovap bath at some point in their career. Good times man, good times.

>>7382677
why was she rotovaping at 100C

also I hope she gave you at least 3 blowjobs for all that trouble

>>7382703
>I hope she gave you at least 3 blowjobs for all that trouble

So because she's a girl she has to to give blow jobs because she made a mistake and some guy helped her? Would you be saying the same thing if it was two dudes? I bet you wouldn't you fucking pig. As a femanon, I hope you fucking die.

>>7382710
>Would you be saying the same thing if it was two dudes?
Depends on the dude actually, if he is cute and shaves his ass I might buttfuck him.

just found this on the internet and found it was an organic chemistry structure, can someone explain me more about what they mean it the picture. oh and by the way, yes, i'm a newfag

>>7382833
Oxytocin

>>7382833
>We're made of chemicals and chemical interactions
>People think of love as a thing because via the chemicals they're made of, they experience it as such and therefore their idea stems from this
>Love is actually just chemicals, two systems relating in a certain way
>Everything is all probably just chemicals
Etc. It's fairly standard. A lot of people who are science inclined have a nihilism phase where they strip down things they were taught or assumed growing up and decide everything is devoid of meaning because it can be viewed as all simply being just because it is. Hopefully they take their philosophies further and grow out of it, which most likely do.

That chart is a symptom of this attitude. The writer probably enjoys various forms of entertainment and eating sweets, despite it being "just a spike of dopamine in their mesolimbic pathway", they simply haven't thought it through well enough to reconcile everything yet.

Etc. Meaning exists if you think it does, it doesn't if you don't. That should say it all on its own.

>>7382845
Also, this.
>>7382835

But they forget about vasopressin and neurotransmitter involvement through the brain as a whole involved in comfort, contentment, attraction, etc. Which can't be cleanly reduced to one chemical. It is rather a state of the brain as an intertwined whole.

>>7382710
>implying I give a fuck about what you think
This is 4chan, I'm going to say whatever the fuck I feel like. Grow up.

>>7382845
That's the kind of answer i was looking for, thanks

>>7382849

Exactly, it's like that "technically the only thing you want is dopamine" bullshit that I've heard people say or seen in shitty articles

no it's not that simple

>>7382677
Couldn't you have just used a 1L sep funnel and a large beaker or something?

Also can I just get a general "fuck large scale reactions" out there? Because fuck em.
>all that time spent concentrating shit

>>7350889
Is org chem all about memorization just like if you were a biofeg

>>7382677 here, reporting back.

I was able to purify her shit decently, and she only lost about 30% of her product. Satisfying success!

>>7382687
My professor said exactly this, he said he had to do his fair share of rotovap extractions in his time

>>7382703
Honestly I don't know, she always fucking ramps the temperature up. And no, I didn't even get a thank you
>tfw

>>7383404
I initially contemplated doing this, but I decided against it because I felt that I'd get a lot of shit collecting on the outside of my glassware and I couldn't think of a way to avoid this. I feel like directly turning the bath into a sep funnel was the best solution.

>>7382833
It's also the hormone that induces uterine contractions and lactation.

*The more you know*

>>7383427
Look I get that you probably took Biology 101 to fulfill your baby GenEd requirements, but that class is basically reiterating high school-tier bullshit anyway and you shouldn't get your impression from that (or /sci/ memers for that matter)

When you're taking a legitimate genetics course you will fail if you rely on rote memorizing the material.

>>7383515
>Look I get that you probably took Biology 101 to fulfill your baby GenEd requirement

Not him, but I'm taking topics in biology to fullfill a GenEd requirement. How hard is it because I'm also taking Physics I, Differential Equations, and Java I.

>>7383451
Hopefully it was an expendable intermediate towards a substrate and not far along in a natural product synthesis.

Any other irishfags here? What kind of job could I expect with a degree in chemistry?

>>7381044
pls help

>>7383451
What was the product anyway?

>>7383967
Why don't you start reading a book and figuring out for yourself, faggot?

>>7384139

See: >>7383673


>subtle bump

>>7351181
Do it in the fumehood retarded clit!
Sillica gives you silicosis, no cure and you will die painfully after a few years of coughing pieces of lung out.
Also, I can't believe you're doing thio compounds outside of the fumehood without everybody getting mad.

>>7384859
Read the thread retarded clit! >>7354188

>>7384868
It still makes me angry

What is a medicinal chemistry course like at university? I assume it's heavily based on organic chemistry.

>>7384897
There are advanced synthetic chemistry / medicinal chemistry courses, physical chemistry, but also courses like ADME, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, drug action, chemical biology, computer aided drug design etc.
It's a very nice study, with still a strong focus on hardcore organic chemistry. It's very interdisciplinairy

>>7384859
>>7384872

This is literally completely out of my power. I would love to do it in a fumehood, believe me, but that's simply not possible. Like I said, I put on a facemask and goggles when loading the column, but I don't think this fully protects me because sometimes I can see silica particles leaking into the air and I know that I will inevitably breath some of it.

I brought this concern up to my prof, and he said it's never been a problem as long as you're sufficiently careful with it (he's 85, still sharp as fuck, and with shit tons of experience). Judging by everyone's reactions on here I'm not sure I fully believe him, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Also for the thio compounds, we just leave the window wide open and shut the door. It's a fairly small lab and so the guys next door rarely smell anything (though sometimes they do and they're pretty understanding).


What other precautions do you think I could take to protect myself from silica? (Aside from working in a fume hood). I'd like to mention that we dry-pack our columns. Would it be safer if I made the silica gel in a beaker and then poured it into the column instead?

>>7383671
>topics in biology
As in an intro bio course? You should be fine. The material taught in intro classes is all over the Internet and there's numerous YouTube channels that could help with visuals like the cell cycle.

>>7385295
>Would it be safer if I made the silica gel in a beaker and then poured it into the column instead?
Yes, and you wouldn't get air bubbles. Look up slurry packing, it's especially useful or a column that size.

>>7384903
ABSOPTION
METABOLISM
METABOLISM
EXCRETION
ABSOPTION
METABOLISM
METABOLISM
EXCRETION
ABSOPTION
METABOLISM
METABOLISM
EXCRETION
ABSOPTION
METABOLISM
METABOLISM
EXCRETION
ABSOPTION
METABOLISM
METABOLISM
EXCRETION


FUCK MY SHIT UP

FUCK MY GRADE UP

>>7385513

>wetpacking

>not using SNAP or redisep columns

Do you work for a beggar lol

Why not just use your isolera?

>>7385570
It's possible to use the isolera even if the PI is a beggar; by carefully prying the top frit from an isolera column, the used silica can be removed. Then, the column is re-packed your stationary phase of choice, and ta-da, you have the convenience of an auto-column without paying a 50x markup for silica.

>>7386675
lmfao

beggars

>be math major
>don't need to take organic chem, but I want to anyway
>I'm already signed up for more credits than I usually take for next semester
>I'm worried that O-Chem might just suck all my time away from the classes I actually need for my major

How difficult does organic chemistry at the undergrad level tend to be?
I've seen some people say it's very difficult, but I've seen others say it's not so bad, and that the former group only struggled because they basically tried to memorize all the types of problems they might encounter, rather than actually understanding the principles.

>>7387999
>trips

It won't be as demanding as a math course.
Many people fuck up by falling behind and thinking they can cram before exams and still do well - this is not a good idea.

Some very helpful texts:
"The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms"
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=7AFE7376860515AAF51F56DDA174A08A

"organic synthesis the disconnection approach"
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=5C136D7B4CE81FC311880460FFD368BA

you won't need this but hey
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=fc1da896d51991d10562703b6908c095

>>7388017
>It won't be as demanding as a math course.
>Many people fuck up by falling behind and thinking they can cram before exams and still do well - this is not a good idea.
So I was right in thinking it's not as hard as it's reputed to be.
I guess I'll have to go sign up for it then.

All right, thanks for that, and for the links. I'm downloading them as I post this.

>>7388048
that first book, the one about how to write a reaction mechanisms, is very much in the vein of 'understand rather than memorize'

>>7388056
*that errant a
argh

>>7361096
There will be people that get good grades that say "it's all just memorization"

Never EVER listen to them.

I want to go to grad school for organic. It's looking like I will be published before I apply, taking the GRE this coming October, I'm a B average student when it comes to chem. Our program is fairly difficult.

What sub fields are there within organic chem? It seems like synthesis would be fun and is popular, but very competitive.

>>7388078
Afaik organometallic catalyst design and polymer chemistry are pretty big. Process chemistry looks pretty interesting, though I'm not sure if you'd do that at a graduate level. Total synthesis is always interesting too

What are you publishing in?

>>7350921
Search for erowid, you will be pleased

>>7389511
GIVE ME GRIGNARDS OR GIVE ME DEATH

>>7389737
YOU SHALL HAVE BOTH.

>>7361096
You gotta approach O-chem like you would a chess game. It helps to have the sticks and balls sets as well for Chirality.

Basically, you can learn what the different endpoints do(sorry, it's been close to 10 years since I took it), the exceptions, and then, some jackass teachers will do things like give you a starting and ending molecule and you must be able to plot what "moves" get you from point a to point d(or f, or r, etc). Occasionally there are multiple answers for these types of questions, assume your teacher wants all possible answers for the best grade.

Study hard, but always try to learn what the things do, rather than just memorizing a few simple transitions, and think of it like a game.

A first semester(massive breakup) C second semester. You can do it mang, also, I'd suggest not dating your lab partner.

>>7387999
Ochem is easy as fuck, just don't be retarded

>finished off both semesters with a 99.5% average
>mfw course average was 67%
>nice trips

why are fucking idiots so stupid

Want to self-learn Ochem before going back next term, we haven't even covered it yet (yep what a newfag amirite), where do I start because I feel like diving into the wiki is going to be a painful experience...