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Why do most drugs (eg: oxycodone) have seemingly arbitrary names?
How do some medicines derive their names?
For instance, is the name oxycodone somewhat arbitrary? I am not well-versed in Chemistry (1st semester student) but does the prefix oxy- imply some chemical meaning as well as the -codone such as some sort…
user54747
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Are children's sparklers based on a magnesium reaction?
We were letting our kids play with sparklers on New Year's Eve, and my friend's son asked his Dad:
What would happen if we threw the sparkler into the water? Would it keep burning under water.
My friend pondered that for a moment - and said it…
hawkeye
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What happens when an alkylborane is treated with acetic acid?
In the hydroboration reactions of alkenes I've seen so far, they were always followed by oxidation with $\ce{H2O2/NaOH}$ (to yield alcohols).
Today I found a peculiar reaction in which acetic acid-d1 was added after hydroboration to give a…
Ritwik Das
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Synthesis Golf VII: (+)-Clopidogrel
(+)-Clopidogrel (sold as Plavix) is a common pharmaceutical used to help combat the risk of heart disease. The World Health Organisation lists Plavix on its list of 'essential medicines' due to its broad efficacy, low toxicity and low cost (less…
NotEvans.
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Chemical synthesis via 3D printing?
I happened to stumble upon this Nature Chemistry article today. It claims that
[...] use a 3D printer to initiate chemical reactions by printing the reagents directly into a 3D reactionware matrix, and so put reactionware design, construction and…
LanceLafontaine
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15
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Why a TS must have only one negative frequency
The vibrational frequencies are related to second derivatives; a minimum will have only positive frequencies while transition state should have one negative frequency. The vibrational analysis must be performed at the the optimized geometry.…
NotEvans.
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15
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Most probable point for finding an electron in the 1s orbital of a Hydrogen atom
My professor says that the most probable point for finding an electron
in a 1s orbital of a hydrogen atom is at its origin.
He explains this by citing the fact that the square of the wave function which gives the probability density is maximum at…
Anjan
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Why does acetylene, having an acidic proton, not react with strong bases like NaOH and KOH?
In acetylene (ethyne, HC≡CH), the carbons are sp-hybridised, which make the attached protons more acidic than those in alkenes or alkanes. (See also: Relative acidities of alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes)
Why doesn't acetylene react with strong bases…
Ris97
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15
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Why is absorbance spectrum continuous and not quantized?
1) In text books, the absorption event is usually described by a figure shown below1: light excites electrons to higher states in atom or molecule. The difference between the ground state and the excited one matches the energy of the absorbed light.…
Ich bin ein gäst
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Why is the bond dissociation energy of C-H bond higher than that of a N-H bond?
Looking at a chart of BDEs (bond dissociation energies) regarding elements bonded with hydrogen, the general trend seems to be that the BDE increases as we go to the top and to the right. This can be explained by the fact that the elements to the…
Teoc
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15
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Is hydrazine a better nucleophile than ammonia?
Which is a better nucleophile, $\ce{NH3}$ or $\ce{NH2NH2}$? For the sake of limiting scope, I want an answer for behavior in a protic solvent though non-protic solvent answers are welcomed.
My logic is that since $\ce{NH2NH2}$ has 2 lone pairs it…
Elon Musk
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Rearrangements of α-aminoketones in Clemmensen reduction
What is the possible mechanism for this reaction? Activated zinc in presence of concentrated hydrochloric acid is used for Clemmensen reduction, that is conversion of ketone group to methylene group. I'd expect the product to be…
stoic-santiago
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What constraints are imposed on a wavefunction by the symmetry of the system?
As a follow-up to my answer here, I'd like to ask what exactly does it mean for a wavefunction to "respect the symmetry" of the system.
The original context is: immediately after ionisation of $\ce{CH4}$, the wavefunction of…
orthocresol
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What is the analogue of "molecule" for ionic compounds?
In a system, if we have $\pu{18 g}$ of $\ce{H2O}$ ($M_\mathrm r = 18$), we can say we have a mole of water molecules or $6 \times 10^{23}$ molecules. But in another system, if we have $\pu{342 g}$ of $\ce{Al2(SO4)3}$ ($M_\mathrm r = 342$), what is…
Dante R
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Does gravity affect the rate of a chemical reaction?
For example, on planets with lower gravity, would the rate of reactions be lower because the reactants are slower to mix with one another?
rmza7
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