Alyx Woodward (obsolete) @Alyx@computerfairi.es

anyway, that's one to file away for later consideration I think!

but "nitroxyl" radicals with the >N-O˙ group can be remarkably stable, especially here where there's bulky groups immediately adjacent. TEMPO and substituted derivatives like 4-acetamido-TEMPO (used in this _Organic Synthesis_ procedure) have been found to be versatile reagents for organic oxidations

in use, the nitroxyl group is oxidized by some auxiliary oxidant (the Oxone, here) to an N-oxammonium group, >N⁺=O, which is the active oxidizing species

"TEMPO" is a common abbreviation for 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-N-oxyl, a rare example of a _stable free radical_. put a pic of it down below

most chemical compounds have all their electrons in pairs. each atomic or molecular orbital can hold two, of opposing spin. molecules with only _one_ electron in an orbital are *generally* unstable under usual conditions, highly reactive and short-lived species that like to grab or give up an electron from anything they bash into

they're making lauronitrile, the 12-carbon straight-chain nitrile derivative of lauric acid (dodecanoic acid), from laurylamine

the oxidant is "Oxone", a trade name for potassium peroxymonosulfate. (it's a pool chemical, I happen to know, a non-chlorine pool disinfectant). catalysts, "acetamido-TEMPO" with pyridinium bromide in pyridine and methylene chloride, carried out under nitrogen

so, what's this "TEMPO" stuff?

and I'll do an _Organic Syntheses_ random-word roulette

random word of the day is..."tire"

http://orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=v95p0060

ooh, this one's rather curious. an unusual reaction: oxidation of a primary amide to a _nitrile_, so... R-CH2NH2 to R-C≡N. I can see that being handy, a way to get at nitriles without having to deal with cyanide (the usual method for nitrile synthesis is nucleophilic substitution of alkyl halides etc. with cyanide. tasty stuff, it's not)

well, today ended up pretty well, so I can do another page of Parallax!

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-04

yeah, Chara's in a school

🔴 THAT IS NOT ME

that's totally you, Chara. anyway, kinda hard to tell anything else. for some reason a physics class is starting at five minutes after noon. oh, eh, actually I guess Chara is late--

🔴 that wouldn't be me. if I was five minutes late to a class I just wouldn't go at all. I told you it wasn't me

despite everything it's still you

schoolkid, looks like. there's other kids in the background, one carrying a book or laptop maybe.

Chara's saying "how am I gonna get through the day now" which is totally a mood, none of us have been the best at spending time without a gadget of some kind to keep us from getting bored

now to page three

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-03

hm. the weird device with the Brazil hoses and tubes and wires coming out of it, seems to be saying "......". it looks nonplussed, maybe because it looks like it's been abandoned in a basement

now we got this kid in the red shirt. I'll just call them "Chara" for now haha. Chara was playing a handheld game and the battery died, probably because they never bothered charging it up when they could hehe

🔴 hey! >_<

all right, feeling better able to actually process shit, so back to this thing that I'm doing

(what am I doing? well, we're all absolutely terrible at actually going through webcomics, so I thought I'd pick one and work through it and post about it. not committed to once a day, kinda wanna go quicker in fact, but, uh...I think you can kinda tell from @chara_dreemurr@plural.cafe that we've been really tied up by other stuff)

phew, when the others are off having their fun and games it kinda starves me of oxygen, haha

gawd, all three of them are here now. what are we in for

(Asriel's hurting real bad though)

okay, second page link

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-02

hard to tell what's up although now we see more of the device, whatever it is. the red HAL 9000 light clicked off and now it's clearer it's paired with a green one. lotsa that generic looking ugly cable bundles and hoses like out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil"

then the O-trimethylsilylether of vinyl methyl ketone is coupled via dichlorodiethoxytitanium. mm, tasty. probably fumes like heck, reacts with air... yeah they're doing this under nitrogen. dry ice temperature in THF (blech)

kinda dull. practical I suppose.

oh well can't win 'em all. maybe I just like the shiny stuff too much

wow uh my brain is a bit too fried still to process it. hope that passes. curious looking reaction, achieving substitution of an acrylylmethyl unit (so, H2C=CH-(C=O)-CH2- group) to the alpha carbon of an amino acid (protected as its N-tert-butoxycarbonyl amide and O-tert-butyl ester, whew. gotta love sticking those big t-butyls on things to keep other things away

the alpha-carbon is brominated with N-bromosuccinimide, _photochemically_, in chlorobenzene? free-radical mechanism? wild

hm _Organic Syntheses_ roulette will lighten the mood!

first, a "random English word". using https://www.randomlists.com/random-words set to one word

"apologise"

...👍

that's not gonna match anything. and it didn't (not even with a zed)

"suggestion"

http://orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=v93p0037