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driveby40
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Check out this synthesis video!
Hey all,
I'm new to this forum, someone on Reddit thought you guys might enjoy my YouTube channel. I've been putting some videos together that showcase some of
the work I do in my lab (I'm a grad student at UCLA). My latest video is a Skattebøl rearrangement to form a cyclic allene. Here's the link, lemme
know what you think!
http://youtu.be/EVDQgjFu9BU
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Sublimatus
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The "in the trenches" format is refreshing. There aren't too many other channels like that on YouTube as far as I'm aware.
Made me nostalgic for the days when I was doing research at university. Ohhh the joys of air-free chemistry.
Keep it up.
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bfesser
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Interesting video, thanks for sharing. I'm a little disappointed that you used a calculator for that simple subtraction, but it's forgivable. I'm
also not particularly impressed with the cleanliness of your work space. Perhaps for future videos you could give the hood sash and the scale display
a little cleaning? It's nice to see some air-free work. I've read a lot about it, but haven't seen any performed in person, and there is little on
YouTube.
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Magpie
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I enjoyed watching this nice example of air-free work. You have a lot of nice toys that won't be found in many home laboratories. It's great that
your professor and the UC helped you with this and allow posting on the internet. Also I see you have the throbbing rock music background during slow
periods: so necessary for today's short attention span audiences. 
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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driveby40
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Thanks for your comments, I did try to tidy up a bit but obviously there is room for improvement. Unfortunately whatever is on that scale screen
doesn't come off, believe me I've tried.
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[Edited on 7/8/13 by bfesser]
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bfesser
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You could always polish it off with progressively finer grit abrasive papers.
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Sublimatus
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hah! The fumehood wasn't clean enough? If anything, it's too clean! A clean bench means a lazy chemist.
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driveby40
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I would rather be labelled as lazy than unsafe; excessive clutter is considered a safety hazard (and also distracting) so I'm always sure to tidy up
before filming.
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[Edited on 7/8/13 by bfesser]
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bfesser
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Or a meticulous chemist. The hood was fine, the sash could have been cleaned for filming.
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Sublimatus
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It was a joke.
Of course you're both right.
I wonder if the marks on the sash are actually damage due to solvent being splashed against it. Is it made of glass or plastic?
[Edited on 6/21/2013 by Sublimatus]
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driveby40
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It's glass coated with some sort of adhesive film. I cleaned the outside but there's some crud on the inside of the sash from various splash ups (like
the time I neutralized acetic acid in the sepfunnel with bicarb... oops). I should have taken care of that before filming but it slipped my mind.
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[Edited on 7/8/13 by bfesser]
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Magpie
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The above is on good authority:
A tidy laboratory means a lazy chemist.
— Jöns Jacob Berzelius
Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779 –1848) was a Swedish chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical formula notation, and is together with
John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry.[
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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Sublimatus
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I worked with a Russian postdoc that had two double-wide fumehoods just packed full of to-be-worked-up or stored samples in beakers and flasks. You
couldn't actually do chemistry in them. The bench opposite the hoods was completely cluttered as well. How he knew what was what I could never
understand.
Despite the mess, he was the most prolific member in the research group, and quite good at organic manipulations.
I tend to keep my lab pretty clean and organized. That <i>must</i> be why I'm not rich and famous.
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sargent1015
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While I am working up reactions or in the middle of projects, my bench and hood are quite messy, but it is organized chaos. The satisfaction at the
end of a synthetic sequence is uncluttering and refinding my labspace, only to start in on something new, and the vicious cycle continues.
Cleanliness means you are spending more time on looks than the chemistry!
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bfesser
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<em>argumentum ad auctoritatem</em>
Some people are just more efficient than others. For example; cleaning your lab space and preparing it for the next procedure while waiting on a
reaction.
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sargent1015
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Efficiency is getting more products out and meeting deadlines rather than cleaning. Extract, column, dry, set-up, repeat. Organized chaos keeps your
tools within arms reach when you are juggling multiple reactions at a time
Btw, I do very much enjoy the video, which is what this thread is ultimately about. Pyrophoric material is a challenge to work with.
[Edited on 22-6-2013 by sargent1015]
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Magpie
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argumentum ad exemplar
Recognize this lab? I dare you to find a more productive chemist on this forum. 
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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adamsium
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I actually have to disagree with this to an extent (not trying to be antagonistic - this is just something that comes up a bit for me). For me, it is
always much more important that my work is top notch, even if I take a little longer. I might take longer, but I then sit back and smile while others
do it all over again, or have a minuscule yield of brown crap instead of a pile of fluffy white crystals with a near perfect IR (or whatever)
spectrum. Faster is not always better; better is always better! Being fast is easy, doing patient, careful work of a consistently very high standard
is not easy for most.
Edit: I forgot to say that I do agree that it's not about being clean. As long as your actual work is clean, you clean up the workspace when you're
done and any mess is not overly hazardous, the focus should absolutely be on what's in the flask(s) and the rest of the apparatus, not next to it.
[Edited on 22-6-2013 by adamsium]
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sargent1015
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Quote: Originally posted by adamsium  |
For me, it is always much more important that my work is top notch, even if I take a little longer. [Edited on 22-6-2013 by adamsium]
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And for me, it is about more products (products do not constitute brown crap in flasks) and more research in shorter periods of time. I will agree to
disagree, but my lab will stay in the same messy functioning capacity as it always has.
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adamsium
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If you're talking about getting more done instead of wasting time on things like having your work area looking pretty and sparkly, I absolutely
agree... as long as my workspace is safe, all that really matters is doing my work properly and getting the best outcome I can get; I would definitely
describe my style of work as 'organised chaos'. I was talking about not rushing procedures and being careless. Also, sorry if it sounded like I was
insinuating that you do this - I wasn't. I was referring to people who I have seen do this, to their own detriment. I can never understand
why people are so hell bent on saving a few seconds/minutes only to mess everything up.
I don't even know what people were talking about in regard to the OP's 'messy' work area. It looks fine to me. Nice video, by the way!  Hopefully you'll make some more.
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[Edited on 7/8/13 by bfesser]
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Magpie
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My own philosophy and modus operandi is that of adamsium. My argument in defense of messy work spaces is merely one of observation. My wife
is one of the messiest cooks around. But she can turn out a delicious meal faster than anyone I've seen. Also, I worked a few summers with an uncle
who was a farmer. When working in the shop and finished with a tool he would just drop it on the floor. The shop was a complete mess. But he was a
mechanical genius and received a patent from John Deere for a major revision of the combine for wheat harvesting.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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plante1999
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So, magpie, you didn't had told us your wife was into clandestine chemistry. Ha ha ha
In my point of view, I try to be the cleanest possible in my work space, but when you lack of space, it is a bit hard to put everything at there
place, when they got none.
I never asked for this.
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bfesser
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This is a futile argument. Those who take part will never concede to the reason of the opposing view. Let's all just agree to disagree and stop
spamming. There's no need to take this thread any further off topic.
<strong>driveby40</strong>, I enjoyed watching your other <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-0EnES_OS4"
target="_blank">video</a> on the preparation of 2-chloro-1,3-dimethyl imidazolidinium chloride (DMC), but it would be nice if you defined the
acronym before just jumping into using it—sorry, this is one of my pet peeves. I'm a little disappointed that you glossed over your
solution to the ring of impure solid product stuck in the Schlenk flask. What did you resort to?
I've <a href="viewthread.php?tid=19098&page=19#pid289005">requested</a> the paper you cited in the video.
[Edited on 6/22/13 by bfesser]
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adamsium
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Argument? There hasn't been any 'argument' nor any "reason of the opposing view" (whatever the 'opposing view' is) presented. I guess you just don't
like people disagreeing with you. That's your prerogative, but isn't it a bit ironic that you then accuse people you don't know anything about of
refusing to accept an opposing view/argument in this context? Think about it.
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[Edited on 7/8/13 by bfesser]
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bfesser
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument" target="_blank"> | Quote: | | In logic and philosophy, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, by giving reasons for accepting a particular conclusion as
evident. <img src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> |
</a>
I re-iterate, stop taking the thread off topic, please.
[edit]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y" target="_blank">>This isn't an argument.
>Yes, it is.
>No, it isn't.
>Yes, it is.</a>
[Edited on 7/9/13 by bfesser]
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