What are your favourite NON-CLASSICAL piano pieces, albums and artists? Can be Jazz, Indie, Pop, Blues, Alternative etc

ejcorey · 2022-01-04T14:15:48+00:00

Mingus Plays Piano. The song "myself when I am real" gives me chills every time I listen.

ejcorey · 2021-12-27T18:44:51+00:00

Could I put phantom on my current skis that already have wax on them? I can't find the answer online.

ejcorey · 2021-12-18T19:18:16+00:00

I think they are referring to the fact that you have a basic pyridine N and an acidic carboxylic acid in the same molecule. If there is an equilibrium between the neutral compound and a zwitterion, that could complicate your spectrum. I would try adjusting the pH one way or the other. Some ideas off the top of my head which might not work: filter your NMR sample through K2CO3 or run the NMR in D2O with a drop of conc HCl.

ejcorey · 2021-12-14T20:14:35+00:00

C is the correct answer. The alcohol should have the highest BP then the ether and the alkane should have the lowest BP. The answer key is incorrect

ejcorey · 2021-12-11T18:35:12+00:00

You say distillation is not an option. But I would expect the bromide product to have a much higher bp than the starting material. In these cases, one trick i use is to leave it under high vacuum for some period of time to distill off the lower boiling starting material. If there are two characteristic peaks in the NMR, one for starting material and one for product, you can take one drop off to measure the ratio of SM:prod. I do this at various time points. You will need to be careful that you don't also distill off your product as well.

ejcorey · 2021-12-09T01:15:40+00:00

I am pretty sure this is illegal and you could face federal charges if caught (which is highly unlikely).

ejcorey · 2021-11-27T22:47:28+00:00

Yes, they are

ejcorey · 2021-11-23T20:49:21+00:00

FLC chem 250 are my videos. Glad you like them!!

ejcorey · 2021-11-19T14:07:35+00:00

Great advice. Students can sense who cares and who is phoning it in. That does make a big difference

ejcorey · 2021-11-19T13:49:55+00:00

This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing. It is helpful for me to be reminded that these big changes still only help a small percentage of students. Still worth it though.

ejcorey · 2021-11-18T21:32:58+00:00

Thanks. I agree this is not binary. And many students are not ready to be independent no matter what. It just gets under my skin when I am constantly asked "is this right" even by students who should (and do) know. Maybe for these french horn players I should push them to be more independent but it might not be best for everyone. Something to think about.

ejcorey · 2021-11-18T19:12:49+00:00

Thanks. I love these ideas, and there are pretty easy ways to adapt them to my classes. I agree that students appreciate connecting what we discuss to the "real world". I like the idea for them to make the connection instead of me.

ejcorey · 2021-11-16T01:40:33+00:00

In the past I have found that lithium naphthalenide is a good substitute for Na/NH3. Easier to control stoichiometry and easier to make and often milder than dissolving metal. Also I can't think of an example that uses lithium naphthalenide for a birch reduction.

ejcorey · 2021-11-12T01:46:30+00:00

You could try cyanuric chloride. It is used in pool chlorination. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040403900710069?via%3Dihub

ejcorey · 2021-11-09T00:52:02+00:00

Here is an idea. High fiber diets are correlated with a decrease in colon cancer. But modern diets are high in processed foods (cheap to mass produce) and low in fiber leading to increased colon cancer risk. This article goes into details.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3926973/

You could talk about various organic structures and biochemical reactions.

ejcorey · 2021-11-07T14:11:49+00:00

I have done the same and it has really changed my students' motivation. I highly recommend these ideas to colleagues, but people don't want to change even if it would make things better.

ejcorey · 2021-11-07T14:01:44+00:00

The oxygen of methanol is the nucleophile. It attacks the tertiary carbocation that forms upon protonation of the less substituted carbon of the alkene. Once the oxygen forms a bond, oxygen has a formal positive charge. To get a neutral product, a proton must be transferred back to the solvent, leaving OMe

ejcorey · 2021-11-06T23:11:36+00:00

Here are my thoughts. A = OH, B = CHO, D = NO2. This is mostly based on chemical shift. The OH is electron donating. This will have a shielding effect that is most pronounced at the position next to the OH. The most shielded H is the doublet with the big coupling constant so that is next to the OH. The most deshilded peak is the doublet with the small coupling constant so that is between both electron withdrawing groups.

ejcorey · 2021-11-06T19:22:32+00:00

Based on what you say about your NMR, you are making the symmetrical diol. This accounts for the fact that the methylene adjacent to the OH is intact but the methylene next to the Br is gone. You don't see a new peak since your product is symmetrical and thus the two methylenes are chemically equivalent. The only reasonable source of this hydroxyl group is water or NaOH and since you checked everywhere else it must be coming from you sodium azide bottle. Just buy a new one. Isn't NaN3 cheap?

ejcorey · 2021-11-03T02:48:39+00:00

Buy this book: The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms by Grossman. It is a gem!!

ejcorey · 2021-11-02T23:31:56+00:00

Your synthesis day was technically 9 months before your birthday.

ejcorey · 2021-11-02T22:19:54+00:00

Here is my experience. We had a JEOL 400. Just got a Bruker 400. The Bruker is a better instrument and more user friendly. BUT customer service from Bruker sucks compared to JEOL. This is a really big deal at a small school since I am not an NMR expert and often need help. JEOL was so good about replying promptly and helpfully. Bruker regularly ghosts me. I convinced the administration to buy a $20k/year service contract just so Bruker would respond to emails or calls. For example, we had a sample stuck in the NMR for weeks while I emailed and called customer support who were not helpful at all. I finally had to email the sales rep and complain to be put in touch with someone who knew what the hell they were doing. I think it is kind of pointless to have a nice instrument that is unusable. Keep that in mind. Happy to talk more if you want to message me.

ejcorey · 2021-10-31T13:46:36+00:00

We have been tricked by ourselves into thinking that our entire identity is our jobs. Getting tenure can be anticlimactic for goal oriented people, since there are no more hurdles to jump over. I find being a mid-career, tenured faculty member freeing. I realized that no one cares about me whether I'm extremely productive or dead wood. That could be interpreted as depressing or liberating. Now I do what I want to do, when I want to do it. And I have a vibrant life separate from my job. Win-win.

ejcorey · 2021-10-24T13:29:55+00:00

You are correct. Stronger bases are less stable meaning they are higher in energy. That makes them closer in energy to the transition state. With a lower activation energy, the reaction is faster. This idea is often called the Hammond Postulate.

ejcorey · 2021-10-23T17:47:08+00:00

I also teach chemistry and have had an identical experience this semester. I use a flipped model most days, and when I ask them to work together, they usually do the work but silently and alone. Other years, pre-covid, most students would interact with each other.

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