Conferences can be intense, and this one is no exception. After five days, saturation is in danger of setting in. But before it does, I include two more (very) brief things I have learnt.
Posts Tagged ‘synthetic chemist’
One more WATOC 2017 Report.
Thursday, August 31st, 2017Gravitational fields and asymmetric synthesis
Saturday, November 20th, 2010Our understanding of science mostly advances in small incremental and nuanced steps (which can nevertheless be controversial) but sometimes the steps can be much larger jumps into the unknown, and hence potentially more controversial as well. More accurately, it might be e.g. relatively unexplored territory for say a chemist, but more familiar stomping ground for say a physicist. Take the area of asymmetric synthesis, which synthetic chemists would like to feel they understand. But combine this with gravity, which is outside of their normal comfort zone, albeit one we presume is understood by physicists. Around 1980, one chemist took such a large jump by combining the two, in an article spectacularly entitled Asymmetric synthesis in a confined vortex; Gravitational fields and asymmetric synthesis[1]. The experiment was actually quite simple. Isophorone (a molecule with a plane of symmetry and hence achiral) was treated with hydrogen peroxide and the optical rotation measured.
References
- R.C. Dougherty, "Chemical geometrodynamics: gravitational fields can influence the course of prochiral chemical reactions", Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 102, pp. 380-381, 1980. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja00521a067
Anatomy of an asymmetric reaction. The Strecker synthesis, part 1.
Monday, May 24th, 2010The assembly of a molecule for a purpose has developed into an art form, one arguably (chemists always argue) that is approaching its 100th birthday (DOI: 10.1002/cber.191104403216) celebrating Willstätter’s report of the synthesis of cyclo-octatetraene. Most would agree it reached its most famous achievement with Woodward’s synthesis of quinine (DOI: 10.1021/ja01221a051) in 1944. To start with, the art was in knowing how and in which order to join up all the bonds of a target. The first synthesis in which (relative) stereocontrol of those bonds was the primary objective was reported in 1951 (10.1021/ja01098a039). The art can be taken one step further. It involves control of the absolute stereochemistry, involving making one enantiomer specifically (rather than the mirror image, which of course has the same relative stereochemistry). Nowadays, a synthesis is considered flawed if the enantiomeric excess (of the desired vs the undesired isomer) of such a synthesis does not achieve at least ~98%. It is routine. But ask the people who design such syntheses if they know exactly the reasons why their reaction has succeeded, you may get a less precise answer (or just a lot of handwaving; chemists also like to wave their hands as well as argue).