I will answer chemistry questions for BTC tips

[Peter Lambert]

Hi everybody! I am a chemist, and I thought it would be fun to answer chemistry questions for tips in bitcoin.

My background: I studied chemistry at Michigan State University. I now work as a RnD chemist at one of the worlds largest chemical companies, working mainly on organic chemistry synthesis.

You can ask general questions you have, or if you need help with understanding chemistry homework I can help with that too.

Tips can be sent to:  1Q9ncDwGc5xSTK2xmEBVGmLbL1dFHSfg1y

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[Damnsammit]

How can I synthesize MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine)?  None of this "molly" shit, I want some White Doves shit from the 90's.

[quone17]

Any tips for memorizing periodic table?  I always had a tough time with that in school and I think I'd like to have a better understanding of it.  Thanks.

[Peter Lambert]

How can I synthesize MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine)?  None of this "molly" shit, I want some White Doves shit from the 90's.

Well, I imagine that there are several ways to make this. My initial thought is to get some safrole (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/s9652?lang=en&region=US), treat it with aqueous acid (sulfuric acid and water) to hydrate the double bond and make an alcohol, and then treat with ammonia to do a nucleophilic substitution to replace the alcohol with the desired amine. I am not sure how well the methylenedioxy moiety at the other end of the molecule would hold up under these harsh conditions, I will have to look into that some more.

Found a nice reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073804004463


Start with safrole, react with HBr, then react with ammonia.

[Peter Lambert]

Any tips for memorizing periodic table?  I always had a tough time with that in school and I think I'd like to have a better understanding of it.  Thanks.

I never really memorized the periodic table, it is easy enough to access it when you need it. Have a copy of it readily available to look at, like hang one on the wall by your desk. The best way to learn the periodic table is to use it, so find a high school/introductory college textbook and answer the questions in the chapter about the periodic table. But it you just want to impress people by being able to say all the elements, then look up them set to music; having something set to music is a great way to memorize it.

[battlescars]

Thats cool chemistry is fun, can you help even university students? or just high school
also how about the rest of the sciences like biochemistry, biology, physics?

gl anyways

[Peter Lambert]

Thats cool chemistry is fun, can you help even university students? or just high school
also how about the rest of the sciences like biochemistry, biology, physics?

gl anyways

Yes, I can help university students as well. I spent a couple years as a teaching aide and lab instructor while I was in grad school, and I also tutored several college students.  

I can try to answer questions on other subjects, hit me with your best shot  

[battlescars]

Nice it is so cool to posses that knowledge i wish i had this information in my brain:(
What kind of job can you get with a masters?  im sure lots of money.

 i hope people ask questions and learn from you. I take all three for me the hardest is physics but i dont have questions for now:D

[Peter Lambert]

What kind of job can you get with a masters?  im sure lots of money.

The best chemistry research jobs and professorships require a PhD and suggest some post-doctoral work. Where I work, the techs (people actually doing the lab work) have bachelors or masters degrees. Different companies will have different requirements, but generally if you want to lead the research you need a PhD, if you are content to just do what other people tell you to then a BS or MS degree would be sufficient. To get a better idea of what jobs are out there, do some searching on job posting websites (start with indeed.com, it compiles all the job listings from many other sites). My estimate is that with a BS in chemistry you could start at a job as a lab tech or QC tech making 25-40k/year, with a masters in chemistry you might be able to land a position starting at 35-50k/year, but with a PhD you get many more options, depending on your particular field of study, which could start anywhere from 50-90k/year (and these sorts of positions have much more upward mobility to move into management type positions and make even more money).

I hope that helped.

[hyperdallas]

i wanna make 99.8 percent pure meth, lets do it!

[Damnsammit]

i wanna make 99.8 percent pure meth, lets do it!

I got an RV and the first season of Breaking Bad on DVD. 

Let's take a trip to New Mexico!

[Peter Lambert]

i wanna make 99.8 percent pure meth, lets do it!

That's not a question.

Slightly (OK, very) off-topic: my mind balks at the word "wanna", but it seems there should be such an adverb, I just can't think of one, any ideas? You could use the phrase "want to", but in that case "want" becomes the verb. I want something of the form "I should make meth" where "make" is the verb, but I just can't think of the correct adverb to fill into "I ___ make meth".

[hyperdallas]

i wanna make 99.8 percent pure meth, lets do it!

That's not a question.

Slightly (OK, very) off-topic: my mind balks at the word "wanna", but it seems there should be such an adverb, I just can't think of one, any ideas? You could use the phrase "want to", but in that case "want" becomes the verb. I want something of the form "I should make meth" where "make" is the verb, but I just can't think of the correct adverb to fill into "I ___ make meth".

With a post like that i feel i need to downvote you somehow:P

i wanna make 99.8 percent pure meth, lets do it!

I got an RV and the first season of Breaking Bad on DVD. 

Let's take a trip to New Mexico!

nig, done deal! You provide the RV and dvd, and this homo will be our chemist we all set!

[Soopaman]

Bump. Any questions?

Is anybody here in chemistry classes, high school or college?

Probably have better luck in mid-January when people go back for the Spring semester. I made a post in early December advertising organic synthesis service and didn't have any luck.

[Peter Lambert]

Bump.

It is so cold that dihydrogen monoxide is turning solid and falling from the sky as a flurry of white crystals, clogging roads and bringing traffic to a standstill!

[EvilPanda]

What kind of job can you get with a masters?  im sure lots of money.

The best chemistry research jobs and professorships require a PhD and suggest some post-doctoral work. Where I work, the techs (people actually doing the lab work) have bachelors or masters degrees. Different companies will have different requirements, but generally if you want to lead the research you need a PhD, if you are content to just do what other people tell you to then a BS or MS degree would be sufficient. To get a better idea of what jobs are out there, do some searching on job posting websites (start with indeed.com, it compiles all the job listings from many other sites). My estimate is that with a BS in chemistry you could start at a job as a lab tech or QC tech making 25-40k/year, with a masters in chemistry you might be able to land a position starting at 35-50k/year, but with a PhD you get many more options, depending on your particular field of study, which could start anywhere from 50-90k/year (and these sorts of positions have much more upward mobility to move into management type positions and make even more money).

I hope that helped.

Wow the future as a chemist looks promissing, especially in the better part of the world. You wouldn't believe (and probably wouldn't guess)  how much a PhD in physics earns in my country.

Topic is nice though, if I ever have any questions I'll know where to come 

[Lucky Cris]

What kind of job can you get with a masters?  im sure lots of money.

The best chemistry research jobs and professorships require a PhD and suggest some post-doctoral work. Where I work, the techs (people actually doing the lab work) have bachelors or masters degrees. Different companies will have different requirements, but generally if you want to lead the research you need a PhD, if you are content to just do what other people tell you to then a BS or MS degree would be sufficient. To get a better idea of what jobs are out there, do some searching on job posting websites (start with indeed.com, it compiles all the job listings from many other sites). My estimate is that with a BS in chemistry you could start at a job as a lab tech or QC tech making 25-40k/year, with a masters in chemistry you might be able to land a position starting at 35-50k/year, but with a PhD you get many more options, depending on your particular field of study, which could start anywhere from 50-90k/year (and these sorts of positions have much more upward mobility to move into management type positions and make even more money).

I hope that helped.

Surely the pay would be higher than that? Maybe I'm spoiled IDK. I was at 50k before I got my BA and over 80K with my masters. I have a couple years of doctoral studies under my belt, but my trust me... I've reached my salary peak a long time ago so pursuing my PhD is solely for personal achievement... makes you seem unattainable for an employer (guess I could've went for my DBA but what fun is obtaining a doctorates without the research!). At any rate, I'm jealous - I love the hard sciences more than anything - business degrees sucks, but pays well I suppose.

Good luck with your endeavors

[Peter Lambert]

Bump.

The past few days I have been doing a model reaction reacting 1-octene with syngas (CO and H2) to make nonanal. Is it just me, or is nonanal a funny name for a chemical? (The chemical is pronounced nonan-al, but what do you think of when you say it non-anal)?

[weex]

As I understand it, proteins interact with each other and other structures primarily through natural vibrations that arise from their folded structure. Are there any non-organic molecules that are so large that some parts of them could act as binding sites or receptors such as in proteins?

[Peter Lambert]

As I understand it, proteins interact with each other and other structures primarily through natural vibrations that arise from their folded structure. Are there any non-organic molecules that are so large that some parts of them could act as binding sites or receptors such as in proteins?

Proteins are strings of amino acids, there are 20 common amino acids, they all have a common backbone NH2-CHR-COOH, where for each amino acid the R group is different, called the side chain. These amino acids string together to form the protein NH2-CHR1-CO-NH-CHR2-CO-...-NH-CHRn-COOH, n can be anywhere from just a few to millions. Each protein therefore is a distinct set of amino acids in a specific pattern.

The different amino acid side chain groups interact with other chemicals in specific ways, and you can imagine a protein is like a long string which gets folded into a specific knot with a very specific shape. So there are two things going on when the protein interacts with other molecules: the shape and the side chains. Another thing that happens is if the protein interacts with another molecule it often changes the shape of the protein, so then the protein will react differently to other molecules before or after binding to that molecule.

Some of the properties of proteins are shared by RNA, some scientists have suggested that RNA carried out the functions of proteins in early life before proteins were developed.

Now, back to your question: There are two things that allow proteins to do what they do, their size and their variability (the alphabet of 20 different amino acids). So to find an equivalent class of chemicals we would not only need something very large, but also something which can form distinct patterns. Large is not a problem, there are plenty of classes of inorganic molecules which form networks that make proteins look tiny, but these are generally made by simply repeating the same unit over and over again. Basically, the amazing thing about carbon is its ability to form long polymer chains with side groups. The closest thing I can think of would be some sort of silicone, which has an inorganic backbone of -Si-O-Si-O-, but silicones are still organic because they have carbons hanging off the silicon backbone.

There are examples of inorganic materials which have specific sized binding sites, they are used to filter out materials (like how molecular sieves adsorb water to make anhydrous liquids) or as catalysts (like zeolites, for an example see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZSM-5). So I guess the answer to your question is yes, there are inorganic materials with structurally specific binding spots.