Sunday, December 11, 2011

Little Things That Mean A Lot

Like chemical stability does not equal reactivity.  That would have been good to remember day 1, not 11 days before the final (via Wiki, no less).

Among other topics?

Why an acid, HOCOCH3 reacts differently than Na+ -OCOCH3.  The products are similar (except for the stereo chem on the acid which will do an SN2 reaction and therefore, attack backside and cause inversion), and except for the part that the nucleophile will attack the starting material head on (the :Nuc is more like... well, a base; and while I could go into conjugate bases/acids, I'm not).

THAT simple explanation from a soon-to-be professor cleared up the clouds in my head.

Now, instead of wondering what I'm not understanding, and why I keep ruminating in something that seemed so simple and yet was stymying my efforts to move on, I can simply...

do the ochem.

Yeay me.  I'm going to bed.  At a normal time.  For a normal amount.  Even found time to eat :Nuc'd left over TGIF.


Lisa said...

Ummm, and this is why someday your patients will smile and stare at you wondering what you just said. You guys are trained in a language from another planet.

Unknown said...

Best of luck on your finals, AD2B!

A Doc 2 Be said...

Thank you, Adam!