2/23/2013 - Soap

  To start off, the formal definition of a soap is a water-insoluble fatty acid mixed with an organic base or an alkali metal, which produces a carboxylic acid salt, and in-turn increasing the solubility in water.  Although they technically are chemically modified, they are usually not considered synthetic.  Soaps have been dated back to at least 2300 years, possibly originating from the Celts, and their original procedure for creating these soaps was to boil animal fat in water with some form of ash, usually from wood.  This saponifies the fat to the free fatty acids.  The chemical in the ash that is actively turning this fat into soap is potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃), which first deprotonates the fatty acid producing a bi-product of HCO₃, while the potassium acts as a counter ion, producing the salt.

  This carboxylic acid salt can interact with water now since it's head is more charged, rather than an uncharged fatty acid.  The way this soap now works is that the long carbon chain interacts with oil (from skin, hair or any other source on your body), while the charged end interacts with water allowing the oils to be washed away with an excess of water.

References:
Myers, D. Surfactant Science and Technology, 3rd ed. Wiley-Interscience: New Jersey, 2006.

2/11/2013 - Magnesium Oxide

This post isn't so much a reaction, but a little informational blurb on magnesium oxide, something that is involved in our everyday life that we don't know about.  One of it's major jobs on our planet is as a refractory material, or known to the non-engineering world, as something that can hold something else that is extremely hot!  It is used as a refractory material because of it's unusual chemical and thermal stability (i.e. it won't react or melt under high temperatures), because it's melting point is 2852°C, which is about half as hot as the earth's core.  In my undergrad thesis I had the pleasure of working with this substance in the crucibles for TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis) experiments, because the crucible needed to handle hot temperatures. Now industrial heat isn't all MgO can handle, it is also known to medically relieve Heartburn, along with sore stomach and diarrhea, as acting as an antacid.  As for the chemistry of this substance, it is difficult for it to react with anything, but to make it it involves the calcination (heat under oxygen) of Magnesium hydroxide or Magnesium carbonate.  Overall, this is a substance that would be hard to live without in today's world and has already gained my respect!

Image source
Info Source

2/4/2013 - Prasad Reduction

This was a reaction that I had learnt in my third year organic chemistry course and has been emphasized quite a bit as a very powerful reaction to control stereoselectivity in reductions.  The Prasad Reduction, first developed in 1984, uses a boron chelating agent to tether the ketone and alcohol together, creating a favored boat transition shape, which is what drives the selection of reduction as seen below.  The reducing agent in this case is sodium borohydride, which attacks the most favorable site of reduction, which can be determined through a simple model of the boat transition state.

Image: Wikipedia

Organic Chemistry Cook Book

Last year I had decided to start typing up my old second year organic chemistry cook book so that I would have easy access to it whenever I needed to reference a basic equation.  Since I no longer need this I have decided to make revisions and make it available to anyone online to help them with their second year organic chemistry courses.  My professor back in second year highly recommend that we make this "CookBook" as we go a long and learn each reaction, and ever since that course I have referred to it for any reaction I had forgotten or just needed some hints on how to go through a synthesis problem.

I'm going through it pretty slowly as I don't have that much time to work on it, but here is what I have so far.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY COOKBOOK

And please if you want to add any obscure reactions to it, please comment below to let me know.