9/24/2012 - Amygdalin

I thought I would have had time to post some reactions but being back at school, combined with my handicap only leaves me exhausted, tired, and sore once I get home.  But here I present the molecule Amygdalin.  I am currently reading this spectacular book Guns, Germs, and Steel (I definitely recommend it), which is about the evolution of civilization and why different civilizations grew to dominate over others.  The author Jared Diamond talks about how crops were domesticated and noted that wild almonds are toxic, so I decided to investigate what the toxic component was.  And that brought me to this molecule.  The metabolism of this molecule releases that Cyanide group, creating HCN, making it very toxic to humans.  This has been used in a number of cancer treatments, and subsequently derived into other molecules to enhance the effect.

Starting a New Semester

I'm starting my last semester (the semester that should have been last year but unfortunately some idiot drove his mini van into me) tomorrow.  I'm very excited to finally finish this very prolonged degree, but it is also stressful in a way because I really can't choose between going to grad school or going into industry straight off (where before it was grad school, grad school, grad school), either way I am aiming on going into the Cosmetics industry. This website here has really inspired me into learning more and more about cosmetics and the chemistry behind it. For my last semester I am taking Natural Synthesis (chemistry of natural chemical reactions), Bio-inorganic chemistry, and Food Chemistry.  So expect many future posts to be related to these topics.

9/2/2012 - Cleaning Glue Goop

Recently I decided to take off a sticker that I applied to my laptop a while ago, but unfortunately it left a pretty icky residue that I couldn't seem to remove.  So my girlfriend suggested that I buy Glue Gone, but me being me I decided it would be a good idea to investigate what exactly Glue Gone is.  It came apparent that it was made of various natural oils (particularly citrus oils) and works by the means of dissolving the bonds that the adhesive has made to the surface.  This leaves the goop floating on a thin layer of oil and now easy to remove.  So in my ecstatic excitement of learning something new I decided to try and remove the adhesive with olive oil with a tiny drop of lemon juice.  This method worked wonders in it's efficiency as I was finished cleaning in under a minute. So for all of those DIY cleaning products people out there, here is your technique for cleaning residual adhesive.

8/27/2012 - Chocolate's Caffiene

The cacao plant has many alkaloids within it's beans, but the most prominent regarding their affects on human physiology is the molecule Theobromine.  Cacao does contain a small amount of caffeine, but Theobromine tends to be the prominent stimulant.  Theobromine and caffeine are part of a class of alkaloids called methylxanthines, and the liver's metabolism of caffeine actually involves the breakdown of caffeine into Theobromine, and then subsequently into various other molecules.  Theobromine is used medically in asthmatic cases due to it's ability to loosen the muscles in the bronchus, but too much of this molecule is poisonous due to this affect.  This ability also makes it quite poisonous to animals such as dogs (due to the slower metabolism of the molecule), making the Christmas season dangerous for when your dog decides to eat all your chocolate.

Theobromine

Caffeine

Congratulations NASA

You continue to make great steps in the name of science. Here is the first image broadcasted by Curiosity:

7/22/2012: Bleach

Now everyone is familiar or should be familiar (for those who don't clean) with bleach. Bleach is a chemical known for its cleaning capabilities and its ability to remove pigments or colour from objects, and its disinfectant ability.  Bleaching is a general form and consists of a couple different methods, but in particular I will be talking about the use of Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) being that it is the most popular.  The power of this chemical comes from it's oxidizing ability when it combines with water to make HClO, since it is a molecule of high electronegativity.  The oxidation process goes as follows 2HClO_(aq) + 2H⁺ + 2e^- → Cl_2(g) + 2H₂O . There has also been very extensive research in it's disinfectant process.  The first synthesis performed by Claude Louis Berthollet in 1789 is very simple where it consists of passing chlorine gas through sodium hydroxide: 

Cl_2(g) + 2NaOH _(aq)  → NaCl _(aq) + H₂O _(l)

07/12/2012 - Organolithium Ether Cleavage

There comes a point in a compound's life when there is a question of whether there is an easier way to make it, and in 1930 Karl Ziegler questioned this with organolithium compounds.  Not only did he find more simpler ways of preparing such organolithium compounds but he developed many applications for the use of the light metal.  The largest application of these compounds is in organic chemistry as organolithium reagents, used in creating those precious carbon-carbon bonds. But one of the first applications that Ziegler developed was the ability of Lithium to cleave an ether bond, demonstrated in the following reaction:

PhCH₂OMe + 2Li → PhCH₂Li + MeOLi

7/11/2012 - Generation of Alkyl Radicals

The next year in 1929 one of the pioneers of radio chemistry, Friedrich Adolf Paneth, an Austrian scientist who did the majority of his early work at Königsberg University, completed a journey set out by Sir Edward Frankland.  This discovery gained humanity the ability to create alkyl radicals, and the identification of such radicals through their ability to displace a metallic mirror (silver mirror etc.).  This was performed through the pyrolysis (thermal decomposition) of a lead organometallic with the general formula of PbR_4.

7/10/2012 - Beginnings of Carbonyl Chemistry

In 1928 a chemist by the name of Walter Heiber, also known as the father of carbonyl chemistry, started a systematic study of many metal carbonyls.  This allowed him to discover many of the hidden catalytic properties of these utilizable compounds.  Two of his most famous reactions were in the realm of Iron chemistry with the two following reactions:

Fe(CO)₅ + H₂NCH₂CH₂NH₂ →  (H₂NCH₂CH₂NH₂)Fe(CO)₃ + 2CO
Fe(CO)₅ + X₂ → Fe(CO)₄X₂ + CO

7/9/2012 - Synthesis of Tetraethyllead Pt. II

In the year of 1922 two chemists working with General Motors Corportation Thomas Midgley and T.A. Boyd discovered an additive to gasoline that would prevent engine knocking, meaning uncontrollable combustion.  This additive was Tetraethyllead, an organometallic discovered back in Germany in 1854 but not utilized until this point.  This great discovery 'lead' to the creation of new gasoline solutions which have since phased out due to the high toxicity of lead in the exhaust fumes.  The synthesis of Pb(C₂H₅)₄ is performed through the following reaction of a sodium lead alloy with chloroethane:

4NaPb + 4CH₃CH₂Cl → (CH₃CH₂)₄Pb + 4NaCl + 3Pb

Source: 

7/8/2012 - Synthesis of Polyphenylchromium Compounds

The past couple of days I have been recovering from my dentist reaching into my mouth and stealing my precious wisdom teeth, and dealing with my new found tolerance to most pain killers making it much more difficult than it should be.  But I have finally got my hands back on my organometallics text book so that I can continue in my history of organometallic chemistry.  I last left off in 1917 with the synthesis of Lithium alkyls, which then brings our journey to 1919 with a German chemist named Franz Hein.  This man's claim to fame came to him with the synthesis of polyphenylchromium compounds, being the first sandwich compounds to be made.  This synthesis was performed by the mixture of CrCl₃ (Chromium (III) Chloride) with PhMgBr (Phenylmagnesium bromide) to create a series of these phenylchromium salts that were later found to be made of biphenyl, not phenyl, and oriented in a way making them look like a sandwich.

7/5/2012 - Synthesis of Thioridazine

Thioridazine is a drug currently used as a treatment for Schizophrenia and other psychotic ailments.  The drug can also be used in the aid of people coming off of opiate withdrawal and insomnia.  After the synthesis the drug exists in the racemic form (meaning two molecules mirror images to one another), which in some cases can cause a problem (See Thalidomide), but in this case both molecules are of bio-medical importance.  The synthesis involves the combination of 2-methylthiophenothiazine with 2-(2-chloroethyl)-1-methylpiperidine through the alkylation of the nitrogen on the 2-methylthiophenothiazine by the addition of a weak base to deprotonate that nitrogen (in this case Sodium amide, NaNH₂) so that a substitution reaction can occur between the Cl and the N.

Source: Wikipedia