Beer Me

So this is mostly so I know when to check the beer again. Started brewing my next beer today. It was supposed to be for St. Patrick's day but looks like it will have to go a bit longer then I planned. I'm making dubliner a nice stout beer.

Blast Wrangler

Since I'll be bringing up a bunch of starting material in the next few weeks this is the first of many ridiculously large reactions. There is the possibility of explosion in this one (mostly right at the begining) hence the blast "wrangler" (really called the blast shield but it would mostly focus/wrangle the blast). I just left it up cause well its safer and has more of a bad ass effect in the hood. The actual reaction is just adding Sodium Azide to N-Acetylsulfonyl chloride.

New Project

Zaragozic Acid C

So I'm changing focus at work. My new project is going to involve finishing the above molecule. Its been made before but our way is pretty cool and creative compared to the old methods. I don't want to say any more cause it hasn't been published yet but he's a link to info about previous work on the molecule. This molecule is going to be a beast. Incidentally the link is part of another chemistry blog I check out sometimes. Previous Work

Xtal

I grew these crystals over the course of 4 days last week. Its an alpha cyano amide. The crystals should be white but I thought they looked pretty sweet with the brown color (they came from a completely opaque brown solution so I was thrilled I got crystals). They also were huge so I took a picture.

Signs

EHS (Environmental Health and Saftey) recently posted the warning signs outside of our lab for anyone who is coming into the building such as a fireman during an emergency. With this sign in front of the room you spend 12 hours a day in would you want to come to work? My personal favorite is reproductive toxin.

Yellow

So this is what the compounds that my research is currently centered around look like. They're called silylglyoxylates (my boss coined the term). The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is extremely yellow and even a little of it will be really yellow in solution or on your lab coat.
Oddly enough they seem to smell like asparagus and I havn't tasted any of them yet but I'm really tempted... They do really cool things when they're attacked by an electrophile (form an enolate following a brook rearragement). Unfortunetely they don't like the light otherwise my bench would be all decked out in various shades of yellow.

Safety?

I noticed this sticker the other day and I think its my new favorite warning sticker. A picture of a baby drowing in a bucket. This sticker is placed on a chemical spill cleanup bucket that I can see would have no reason to be anywhere but a chemistry lab. Why there would be a baby crawling around a lab floor I have no idea.

Vacation

These are just some pictures from my vacation in New Hampshire this August. Always totally sweet going up there. First one is my brother and I kayaking on silver lake. Mt. Chocorua in the background.
This is my brother and I again, taking care of some extra brush at the cabin. Note the bench in the foreground, at one point it may or may not have been on fire.


Took this picture on a new bike ride we found. Mt. Chocorua seen from Lake Chocorua. Easy to see why its one of the most photographed mountains. Its a pretty good shot, I should be a photographer.

Howdy

Got a little bored and the myspace blog sucks so decided to start this one. Little tired tonight but I'll play with this tomorrow.