🎓 Dr. Freemo 🇳🇱 @freemo@qoto.org

A picture of my home Organic Chemistry lab I took about 8 years ago. Its really not hard to set up a home lab, and you can buy all the fancy stuff as you go if you want, but you can do a lot with even a basic setup.

#chemistry #OrganicChemistry #Science @Science

@funny

I'm pretty sure this is an actual picture of me right before one of my ex girlfriends broke up with me.

#funny #joke #jokes #humour #humor #science @Science #chemistry

Having some fun in the lab today doing some semisynthesis on phenols using Boron Trifluoride Etherate. Everything should be done except the final distillation step ill be doing tomorrow.

#chemistry #organicchemistry #ochem #science

Some of the better #science related bad stock photos

#BadStockPhotos #astronomy #chemistry

Ok so after a day of running TLC plates on this experiment and continually failing to separate out the THC and th CBD on the plate I decided to give up and wait for a more appropriate stain that colors differently for THC and CBD to help that along...

In the meantime just to be sure I did do a colorimetric test called the beam test which can distinguish between CBD and THC nad I can show the final product has relatively no CBD in it.

The picture below shows the before and after sample tested side by side. The vial on the right was the vial that held the pure CBD (just had a little residual dust in it). It turned pink and then a dark violet. The watch glass on the left as the final isomerized product. It remains clear indication no CBD is present in the sample, this strongly suggests it is a relatively pure sample of THC.

#Science #chemistry #OChemistry #Cannabis

The TLC plate i was trying didnt quite work. I think it wasnt ling enough to allow the chemicals to seperate. This one is a bit ugly as i had to cut it but its 3 tines longer. Maybe this will work...

#Chemistry #OrganicChemistry #Ochem #Science

Who said scientists cant be poets?

#Science #Chemistry

Today I finished the first 1/3rd of the video I am doing for all of you showing CBD to THC semisynthesis. I should be able to finish the rest tomorrow I hope.

Today I covered dissolving the CBD in hexane in the proper proportion then stepped everyone through the steps to do a TLC plate on it so we can verify the purity of the starting product, which includes how to stain it to help CBD develop a distinct pink color for easier identification.

Tomorrow I will do the semi-synthesis into THC and then the final analysis to prove the end result.

I attached a sneak peek at what the TLC play to identify pure CBD looks like after it is developed. That pink dot indicates pure CBD.

#chemistry #Ochem #OrganicChemistry #science

I just made up some vanillin stain for the CBD -> THC synthesis I promised everyone, recorded it and all.

Man I do love the smell though! Vanillin is the best stuff ever!

#Chemistry #OChem #OrganicChemistry

My mom spent the whole day with me while I cleaned the Organic Chemistry lab. Also some important chemicals came in.

I know I keep promising this but I'm getting very close to being able to demonstrate to everyone the semisynthesis of CBD to THC!

#Science #Chemistry #OChem #OrganicChemistry

The hexane just arrived for the CBD to THC synthesis lan ill be showing sometime later this week!

#Science #Chemistry #OrganicChemistry

The pure Cannabidiol (CBD) arrived today. Lab tested at 99.58% purity. Will be perfect for the chemistry experiment i had been planning to do for everyone to demonstrate the semisynthesis of CBD to THC. I just need to check to make sure i have enough hexane and i should have the supplies needed.

#biology #Chemistry #OrganicChemistry #Cannabis

If I do a demonstration on how to convert CBD into THC (semisynthesis) what would be the most interesting way for me to present that?

#Chemistry #science

Would anyone be interested in me posting a write up, or even a video, of how to do a semi-synthesis of THC from CBD? Its one of the more fun chemistry experiments IMO and can be done from home. Thankfully I'm in a location where it would be legal as well.

#Chemistry #Cannabis #Science

The six polymorphs of chocolate

#science #chemistry #food #cooking

Don't forget your functional groups!

#chemistry #science

Someone asked me why DNA and RNA are acids. I am **not** an expert in chemistry but I did study the basics of organic chem and do dabble a bit so I wanted to share the answer here.

Simple answer: Anything that lowers pH is an acid, RNA and DNA lower pH, therefore it is an acid.

Complex answer:

Nucleic Acids are called acids because, well, they lower pH, as anything that is an acid would. pH is, in simplistic terms, the concentration (logarithmicly) of H+ ions in a solution.

A unrelated side note with acids that dont directly donate a H+, your Lewis Acids, they still increase H+ in an aqueous solution because it effects the balance of H+ and OH- dissociation of the water itself. As such the H+ measure is still accurate. However Nucleic acids are not a Lewis Acid, they are a Bronstead-Lowry acid, which means they directly can dissociate and provide the H+ ion directly in an aqueous solution. But I'll get to that.

The individual parts of any molecule can be either acidic and basic, but a molecule overall will usually be one or the other depending on which dominates, RNA is no different, there are three major components to RNA, I attached a picture to show them. The components are a phosphate group, a sugar, and a nitrogenous base (the part that encodes data, your citosine and guanine and shit). Here is the cool part, the word base when talking about the "bases" of a strand is specifically chosen as the the word because they are themselves bases (on their own they would raise pH). Similarly the phosphor group, is also acidic, this should be obvious by its similarity to phosphoric acid. It is a proton donor for the same reason phosphoric acid is a proton donor.

So the only question remaining is why does the acidic phosphor group dominate over the Nitrogenous Base? Well for starters the the phosphate group has a pkA of near 0 , the Nitrogenous Base has a pkB of around 9.8 (depends on the base), so already the phosphate group is going to dissociate more readily than the Nitrogenous Group. However RNA strands are actually far more acidic than the individual Nucleotides that compose them happen to be. The reason for this is that RNA folds back in on itself with the bases associating with each other much like two halves of a DNA strand would. This causes the bases to be on the interior of the molecule while leaving the phosphate groups all around the outside. Since the bases are not exposed to the aqueous solution they do not dissociate as readily as they otherwise would while the phosphate groups are free to dissociate. Thus the RNA exhibits significant acidic properties.

By the way the acidic nature of RNA and DNA is intentional and functionally important. It means that the pH of the solution can be adjusted to effect the charge on the nucleotides and thus move it around. In a neutral pH solution the phosphate groups will have a negative charge. This results in the phosphates pushing each other away. This in turn can cause them to line up on opposite sides with their bases facing each other as well as help to straighten out a strand's backbone.

#biology #science #chemistry #organicchemistry

My favorite alloy is copper-gold alloy, here is why:

Copper is dissolved easily by acid where gold i not. Therefore if you rub any such alloy with acid you can eat away the copper leaving just the gold. This creates a similar effect as gold plating where a thin layer of pure gold is on the outside and the whole object looks like pure gold.

Of course gold is soft so even though the whole alloyed object is pretty strong thanks to the copper the thin outer layer is soft and wears away over time easily. When it goes from gold back to a rose-gold copper color just rub it down with a little more acid and it turns gold again.

Its much cheaper than pure gold but looks just as nice and is easily cleaned up. Its really win win in many ways.

Interesting note, the romans used to use this for their armor. Since they would clean it off with acetic acid from vinegar it looks like pure gold and thus was impressive on the battlefield to see. The gol shine would wear off fast from battle but was easily restored in the next cleaning.

#science #chemistry #metallurgy #history #romans

To help some of the newcomers make connections: name 5-7 things that interest as tags so they are searchable. Then boost this post or repeat its instructions so others know to do the same. Add #introductions to the post.

#Photography
#Astrophotography
#Netherlands
#utrecht
#QuantumPhysics
#Philosophy
#Science
#Nature
#SCUBA
#Chemistry
#occult
#Biology
#bioalgorithms
#Programming
#ClassicalLiberal

Old school #chemistry was wwwwaaayyyy cooler.