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Organic Chemisty Reveiw

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Anarchemitis
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2677
Joined: 23 Dec 2007

My first reveiw and it's... to say in the least an odd one, so I guess I understand if this gets locked or I get banned.
I don't play that many new games because my hard-earned money I think can be much better invested that buying things that when lag occurs makes me feel inadequate so I reveiw the new unit of Chemistry at school.
In short I am enjoying it and the simplistic "C=O is a 'ketone', except when located at the end of a molecule where it is an 'Aldehyde'". It's basic memorizing and labelling and somehow I find it intriguing.
I should say that the short reveiw is due to the fact I try to be concise, and there's an extremely Large amount of Organic chemistry I don't know.
Cheers!
(5 points if you can tell me what this is:)
http://z.about.com/d/chemistry/1/0/0/b/epinephrine.gif
Stupid not working image.I:(

DvON
Paperboy
Posts: 13
Joined: 28 Apr 2008

(R)-4-(1-hydroxy- 2-(methylamino)ethyl)benzene-1,2-diol

nightfish
Press Junketeer
Posts: 361
Joined: 7 Nov 2007

adrenaline or are you looking for something more substantial like the above

DvON
Paperboy
Posts: 13
Joined: 28 Apr 2008

either awnser works i just like being a smart ass

Anarchemitis
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2677
Joined: 23 Dec 2007

Adrenaline waas what I was looking for. And it wouldn't be bezene because it doesn't have the cirlce in the middile, it would be cyclohexane.

nightfish
Press Junketeer
Posts: 361
Joined: 7 Nov 2007

Anarchemitis:
Adrenaline waas what I was looking for. And it wouldn't be bezene because it doesn't have the cirlce in the middile, it would be cyclohexane.

cyclohexane also has a circle or ring sytem, just not the double bonds

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Anarchemitis:
Adrenaline waas what I was looking for. And it wouldn't be bezene because it doesn't have the cirlce in the middile, it would be cyclohexane.

It IS a benzene ring in the middle; it's one of the two Kekule structures...

Anarchemitis:
In short I am enjoying it and the simplistic "C=O is a 'ketone', except when located at the end of a molecule where it is an 'Aldehyde'". It's basic memorizing and labelling and somehow I find it intriguing.

Unless it's on the same carbon as an 'OH' when it's a Carboxylic acid, or on the same carbon as a Cl, when it's an acyl chloride... I could go on...
Hmm... this is kind of distracting me from my actual chemistry revision... Go procrastination!

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

I have just taken my final exam for my first year of Chemistry at Edinburgh University and I hate Ketones to the very core of my being.

Just don't start talking about keto-enol tautomerism or hemiacetals and I won't have to mount a crusade against you.

Have a super day!

Also if it is on the same carbon as a carboxylate anion R'-C(=O)-O(-) it is an acid anhydride.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Gingerbreadroach:

Just don't start talking about keto-enol tautomerism or hemiacetals and I won't have to mount a crusade against you.

Can we talk about (full) acetals and ketals instead?

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

*Snaps*

You're lucky that the amount of writing in that exam paralysed my wrists friend...

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Indeed... let's talk about Physical Chemistry instead... that's much more fun!

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

Nah, Inorganic is where the good times are to be had. Physical is just full of spectroscopy and thermodynamics... Integration makes my head spin.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

I must disagree... Quantum Mechanics is where all the 'fun' is to be had... Explaining things from first principles so that the Inorganic chemists can simplify it, and the organic chemists can just ignore it...

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

...Touche.

Actually, Quantum stuff is really interesting, as is particle physics.

If you think organic chemists are bad you should see how biologists deal with chemistry; they just seem to ignore it completely.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

I know, I was talking to one; she said that she hated the chemistry based part of the course, and no wonder! All they do is the pseudo chemistry found in biochemistry which is pretty standard chemistry, but with massive groups attached that means drawing out the mechanisms takes much longer than it should (although they have developed many shorthands which don't help it's indecipherability).
I must say that I have been enjoying the Bioinorganic lectures that I've been to though... Marcus theory and suchforth...

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

I take Chemistry and Biology courses and crash Physics (just for the extra info.) and I must admit that they (biologists) really bury their heads in the sand when it comes to the chemistry aspects of the course.

I was using a spectrophotometer to measure the concentration of DNA in solution and they didn't know any of the principles relating to the use of the machine at all (the Beer-Lambert Law.) I knew more about it than Ph.D. students who were supposed to be assisting us.

I haven't looked at any Bioinorganic stuff beyond enzyme catalysis but I imagine that it is quite interesting...

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Ah... the good old Beer-Lambert law... thank God NMR was developed so that we don't actually have to use UV spectroscopy to determine structures!
Well we don't actually get examined until next year on Bioinorganic chem. (I'm a 2nd year chemistry student); so we only get 'taster' lectures (which, of course, no-one goes to, because they're non-examinable) but they're still interesting (especially learning how electron transfer works... forcing geometries so that the metal ions can carry electrons, but still want to give them up, leading massive (1000's upon 1000's of Daltons) structures).
Anyway, what sort of course are you doing? Is it some sort of Natural Sciences course? Or pure chemistry with a few extra units?

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

Pure chemistry with some biology thrown in to take up an inordinate amount of my time. I was going to do chemistry and then try for medicine but now I'm a lot more interested in physical and inorganic chemistry.

I used to like organic but I can't stand all of the short-hand they use. I swear they have a special-secret club you get into when you learn it all and begin ignoring all of the IUPAC names for everything.

How about you, where are you studying?

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Ah... is it Acetone or Propanone? Formic Acid or Methanoic Acid? Nah, it gets easier with time, mainly due to the fact that no-one uses names, they just use diagrams and then refer to 'that alcohol' or 'that acid' it's a lot easier, and less easily misunderstood (the IUPAC names get stupidly long as soon as you move away from simple substrates).
I'm studying chemistry at Oxford... should probably be frantically revising for the exams in a couple of weeks time, but it was such a lovely summer's day today that... let's just say not much work has been done...

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

Nice, I applied for St. Peter's College but didn't make it in the interview.

The weather has been unmercifully hot here; all the time I have been revising.People keep sunbathing on the lawn outside my window while I'm stuck inside with a periodic table, Atkins' Physical Chemistry and a contempt for all of the art students and medics who have already finished...

Also, my revision is never helped by my crippling addiction to FreeCell.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Ahh... the chemistry students are the first to finish here, get a week off after exams to go punting and sunbathing (excluding of course the medics who had their exams last term, and the laywers and other art students who are free till finals, when they all mysteriously start working... apparently (I've never seen it myself, but there are rumours...)) Currently trying to revise Organic Chemistry (woo! way to get back on topic!) as it's what I did worst in in the mock exams.
Anyway... think I'm gonna go to bed... good luck in your exams!

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

You too. Nice speaking with you.

RufusMcLaser
Copy Clerk
Posts: 76
Joined: 27 Mar 2008

This is the best thread I've ever seen on a gaming site.

No, seriously.

The_root_of_all_evil
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2757
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

Quantum Theory is dead. Or is it?

Anarchemitis
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 2677
Joined: 23 Dec 2007

Oh the joys of science.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 132
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

The_root_of_all_evil:
Quantum Theory is dead. Or is it?

It's like Schroedinger's cat; you'll have to look to find out!

nightfish
Press Junketeer
Posts: 361
Joined: 7 Nov 2007

Gingerbreadroach:
I take Chemistry and Biology courses and crash Physics (just for the extra info.) and I must admit that they (biologists) really bury their heads in the sand when it comes to the chemistry aspects of the course.

thats funny - no we don't

hehe i will add thats a response i expect from a first year

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

Meh. Fair enough. I haven't yet met a biologist who does understand the chemistry aspects (or at least appreciate them) but I understand that they're probably out there somewhere or that sector of science would have ground to a halt long ago. It's just that all of the people I've spoken with on those courses never seem to understand. But then, as you say, that's what you expect from first years...

*Edit* I realise that not all biologists are morons. I am probably just venting my extreme distatste for cellular biology on an undeserving audience.

nightfish
Press Junketeer
Posts: 361
Joined: 7 Nov 2007

Gingerbreadroach:

*Edit* I realise that not all biologists are morons.

well thats nice to know :D

 
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