Alyx Woodward (obsolete) @Alyx@computerfairi.es

(cont'd) here, an oxidative hydrolysis is carried out with sodium chlorite (a popular mild aqueous oxidant for a number of organic reactions) buffered with monobasic sodium phosphate in t-butyl alcohol. that gives the alpha-hydromethylated isovaleric acid, rather than the aldehyde.

neat! working with formaldehyde is kind of a bummer and I wonder if there's any way to jigger the synthesis to use sym-trioxane instead.

the reaction is carried out with formalin (the standard 37% solution of formaldehyde in methanol that is the usual reagent form of formaldehyde) in the presence of toluene, a pH 7 buffer, and a chiral phosphine catalyst, (S)-1,1-diphenylprolinol trimethylsilyl ether, a catalyst undoubtedly synthesized from naturally occurring amino acid proline

presumably, plain mild hydrolysis of the resulting acetal of the hydroxymethylated aldehyde would yield the aldehyde itself, but (cont'd)

ok, time for _Organic Syntheses_ roulette. with the new rule, choosing a pseudorandom four-digit number and then searching orgsyn.org for it!

and the number is 2564 - heh well at least we know it's divisible by 4

ooh, what a curious one this time

http://orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=v92p0320

direct *asymmetric* alpha-hydroxymethylation of aliphatic aldehydes. here, isovaleraldehyde (or, if you like, 2-methyl-n-butyraldehyde) is converted to the formaldehyde acetal of the (R)-hydroxymethylated aldehyde

well Chara saw three heavy movies in a row last night ("Scrooged", "The Truman Show", and finally "Rosemary's Baby") and somehow I'm still here. can't knock the daughter of Loki down so easily!

(hey, I didn't want this, might as well get some fun out of it)

haha Dad resorts to the weirdest ways to remind Chara to do things

hey I'm not proud, I don't mind being dragged. horses are terrifying *grins a scary horse grin*

and in page sixteen Lomax's reality instantly shatters

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-16

(also unlike our experiences. we don't remember dreams)

anyway mom is sensible enough to give Lomax some space (yeah, Chara, I see what you mean) and the kid's left alone

two more years to graduation, then maybe things will get better...

"I will just have to endure" are hard words to come from the mouth of someone that young...dunno how old any of us was, when we first decided that was our lot in life, endurance. mere persistence is an empty sort of goal, but it _is_ a goal

page fifteen.

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-15

Lomax's mom comes into the room asking what's wrong. she looks young, and kindly enough. well that puts to bed any idea this is based on YOU in some way, Chara, haha ;=3

🔴 guess that depends on which mom you mean. *sighs* none of my moms have been entirely nice. certainly none of the human ones

as does "Chelydros" or "Kel Hydrus". I don't think they even really exist any more as an entity (Mono does, he's just "St. Mono" and permanently retired now...although he threatened to come back as Hidari Shotaro. wonder if anything's gonna come of that)

oh wow "Prof. Mono" still technically has a fediverse account

that's hilarious

another page before bed

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-14

another hint that Lomax's situation is unusual. they'd said something earlier about the reason for their being stuck in an ill-fitting major wasn't their parents, but wouldn't say what the reason was. now another hint: "this is the worst of the places I've lived". so Lomax has been kicked around from place to place...Army brat?

up a steep-looking grade to a single family home. Lomax collapses into bed