5/19/2012 - Alkene to 1,2-dihalide

Yet again another simple reaction takes us to working with alkenes, a major tool in an organic chemists' arsenal of reactions.  This reaction here is a reaction of an alkene to a 1,2-dihalide where an alkene is reacted with a molecular halide X₂ (F₂, Cl₂, Br₂, I₂) and dichloromethane as a solvent.  What happens is that the two halides go anti to one another so that they are opposite sides of the molecule.

Computer Programs for Chemistry Students

As an undergrad student you really don't have the money to spend on the professional drawing programs such as ChemDraw, or professional NMR processing programs like TopSpin, so what is out there for a starving undergrad to easily get through their Chemistry degree?

Chemistry Drawing:

• ACD/ChemSketch (Windows):  They provide both a paid version and a Freeware version for educational purposes, which I find as a very intelligent move on their behalf.  This program is very easy to use and very capable in performing all the tasks required of an undergraduate program.  It is the program I most frequently use to make Chemical illustrations.
• ChemDoodle (Mac + Windows + Linux):  This company (iChemLabs) realized the need for an affordable Chemistry drawing program to make up for the ridiculous prices that are currently out there so they came out with ChemDoodle for a very reasonable $59.95 for single, and $89.95 for two copies.  This company truly realizes the importance of quality chemical education so they research looking into the production of Chemistry web programs marked as Chemdoodle Web Components.  On there they offer free solutions to add to your website through the use of HTML5, much like how Jmol uses Java (HTML5 being a much safer and stable option for your computer).  Expect to see this technology coming up in ebook text books, chemistry blogs, and other educational places.  Also if you have a smartphone they have a Chemdoodle app for you to work with while you aren't at home, or in the office.  I strongly recommend this program to anyone in the chemical field. 

NMR Programs:

• ACD/NMR Processor (Windows): Again this company offers a freeware version of there wonderful NMR processing software, which matches many paid solutions out there.  This is the program I have been using for quite sometime now for interpreting NMR spectra.
• Chemdoodle (Mac + Windows + Linux): It also performs basic NMR functions, it isn't the greatest but it will get you along for what most undergrads are required to perform.

Publishing:

• Google Drive (Web): This has probably been the most used program for my undergraduate degree; I rely on it for all of my word processing and basic spreadsheets.  When I need a more advanced spreadsheet program I have to use Excel, but these Google Docs programs are being improved very rapidly, so I suspect I may not need to rely on Microsoft Office for much longer.  This makes life so much easier when you work on multiple computers such as using a public computer at school, or even borrowing someone else's computer to do some work on those lab reports that are due in an hour.  And for group projects, it makes live collaboration possible,  making the students' lives so much easier.
• Lyx (Mac + Windows): For those who know LaTeX, this is a very useful editor to make your documents look perfect.  This is very useful for those of you who are Physical Chemists, Quantum Chemists, or anyone else who work heavily with mathematics.  Or those Chemists who just really enjoy the styling of LaTeX documents.
• LibreOffice (Mac + Windows + Linux): Since windows has discontinued the release preview of their office 365, I've had to find an alternative.  Now I don't need the full functionality of excel at this moment so I can settle for something else, but when that time comes I will have to invest in office again.  This is a full functioning alternative to Office and I will recommend this open source project to anone.

5/8/2012 - Alkene to Alkyl halide

There are many simple organic reactions out there in the world of chemistry and this here is one of them.  This reactions involves the treatment of an alkene with a hydrogen halide and ether as the solvent.  This results in the HX (HF, HCl, HBr, HI) to combine with the alkene agreeing with the Markovnikov rule (the halide adding to the most substituted carbon).  The reaction can be seen below using HF as the hydrogen halide.

What are Particles?

As I continued to read the biography on Paul Dirac, The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo, I came across this very ensightful quote of Dirac's which gives a very good sense on how we can imagine particles.

When you ask what are electrons and protons I ought to answer that this question is not a profitable one to ask and does not really have a meaning.  The important thing about electrons and protons is not what they are but how they behave - how they move.  I can describe the situation by comparing it to the game of chess.  In chess, we have various chessmen, kings, knights, pawns and so on.  If you ask what a chessman is, the answer would be [that]  it is a piece of wood, or a piece of ivory, or perhaps just a sign written on paper, [or anything whatever].  It does not matter.  Each chessman has a charateristic way of moving and this is all that matters about it.  The whole game of chess follows from this way of moving the various chessmen.

Source: Farmelo, Graham. The Strangest Man. Basic books, Philidelphia, 2009.