My Second Week
My second week in the laboratory consisted of porphyrin synthesis from the dipyrrole methane I had previously made and a selection of benzaldehydes to generate batches of my starting material. As I mentioned before, porphyrins are highly colored compounds so determining the progress of the reactions is simple and column chromatography allows for easy isolation due to variation in color for each product.
About an hour into porphyrin synthesis
Final product - deep purple
So far, I’ve used techniques I am already familiar with, but I’m improving on them. For example, I’ve improved a lot on my spotting for TLC plates and determining eluent systems. I also have improved my lab notebook keeping and other minor skils in the lab. I know they are small, but there is always room for growth on old skills.
As far as analysis goes, I’ve done MS and NMR. The University has three NMR instruments, the one I used was 400 MHz and has a lot of the same controls as Nazareth’s old 200 MHz NMR. This NMR has the shimming dial, which I have to say – I don’t miss it.
The NMR (AKA - Giant Magnet)
Each student in the program has been placed with a PhD in the Chemistry Department and has their own project to work on. The types of chemistry varies from analytical, physical, photo, and organic. As you may have already guess, I am working in organic synthesis. During the day I don’t see much of the other students, because we are all working in our labs anywhere from 7 – 10 hours a day.
I work in Balaz’s Dark Lab that is designed to allow the researcher to work with light sensitive compounds. The dark lab is much like a dark room for photographers, when the lights are out we work underneath a red light. So far, none of the reactions I’ve completed are so sensitive to require the red light; instead I keep my flasks covered with tin foil (high tech, right?)
The Dark Lab
Through out the day I work pretty independently unless I am using a new technique or doing a new reaction. In those cases Dr. Balaz or one of his students will coach me through the process and give me advice from their experiences.
On my blog account, I receive statistics about how many people are viewing my entries. Just yesterday, I had 55 hits! Thank you for all of your support and I look forward to hearing from you and seeing all of you again in the fall!
