Synthesis Preparation

Organic Chemistry Literature

• Bibliographic Databases
  
• Reaction databases: a very powerful tool for organic chemists
• Do you need specific chemical or physical properties? Factual database
• How to access/obtain an article?
• The ever-growing field of on-line journals.
• The mysterious world of patents.
• A sometimes forgotten source: dissertations.
• What was communicated on conferences?
• The enormous value of a good review.
• Time to read a book?
• Or time to refresh your memory? Text Books
• Always worth the trip to the library: Reference Works.
• Keep your literature up-to-date: Current Awareness.
• Guides about chemical information searching
• How much impact does my scientific work have?

Synthesis Planning

• Some backwards thinking or CPU time can save a lot of laboratory time: Synthesis Planning
• Who dares? Reaction Prediction
• Library Design

Chemical Sourcing

• Want to order a chemical compound of a specific supplier ?
• Want to search all suppliers at the same time? Combined Catalogues
• Go to a virtual chemical marketplace: Chemicals wanted/for sale
• Millions of compounds are available: Compound Libraries
• Do you prefer to outsource the organic chemistry project: Custom Synthesis
• Keep track of all chemicals: Stockroom Inventory

Compound Classes

• Brought together by an amide bond: Peptides
• Overwhelmed by hydroxyl groups: Carbohydrates
• Believe it or not: DNA and RNA
• They weight just a little bit more: Isotopes
• 6 atoms in the ring is not enough: Macrocycles
• Reach out and touch: Dendrimers

Synthesis Strategies

• Purity in its finest chemical form:Asymmetric Synthesis
• The special fluorous-fluorous interactions: Fluorous Chemistry
• Some functional groups has to be taken into protection: Protecting Groups

Experimental Set-up and Purification

Reaction Components

• Popular because easy separable from reaction mixture by filtration: Heterogeneous Catalysts
• One of the tricks to solve the solubility problem: Phase-Transfer Catalysts
• A metal can be the the chemists best friend: Phase-Transfer Catalysts
• Selectivity by specific multiple site interactions: Organocatalysis
• Know all aspects of the compounds you handle: Properties of Reagentia
• Deciding which solvent to use to run the reaction?
  
• A new breed of solvents: Ionic Liquids
• Solvents in an unusual physical state: Supercritical Fluids

Reaction Activation

• Shorten you reaction time dramatically with Microwaves
• Use photons to explore unusual reaction pathways: Photochemistry
• Rock and roll in chemistry: Sonochemistry
• Who says you always need a solvent?: Mechanochemistry
• Electron are the cheapest reagents: Electrosynthesis

Reaction Set-up

• Save time, run your reaction in parallel: Reaction Blocks/Workstations
• Save even more time, automate the routine handling of dispensing and weighing etc. : Robotarm-based Systems
• Stirrers
• What is a laboratory without glassware?
• The room temperature is not suitable: Thermometers
• The right mass is important: Balances
• The easy way to transfer liquids: Dispensers
• Laboratory techniques to set up and monitor a reaction.

Safety

• Hopefully always in reach when needed: MSDS
• Be aware of the properties of the compound: Toxicity

Work-up and purification

• At the end, you always have to get rid of your solvent: Evaporation
• A convenient and fast purification technique: Solid Phase Extraction
• The solution for the most difficult separations: Chromatography

Analysis

• Let the chemical shifts guide you: NMR
• The vibrations of the bonds will tell a lot: infrared spectroscopy
• Excite electrons to look for certain chromophores: ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy
• Volatility has its benefits: Gas Chromatography
• Analyse with high performance: HPLC
• Attracted by the charge: Ion Chromatography
• Does the molecular ion in the mass spectrum correspond with the desired structure?
• The rising star in absolute configuration determination: Vibrational Circular Dichroism
• Quantitative analysis at your fingertips: ELSD

Physico-Chemical Properties

• Still needed for most publications: Melting Point
• Is purification by destillation possible? Boiling Point
• Protons find their way: pKa and pKb
• To be soluble in the reaction medium or not: that's the question. Solubility
• Molecules on a diet: LogP
• Chirality has its certainties:Optical Rotation

Communication

The Desk

• A well maintained notebook is half of the work
• Eventually, you will write reports or scientific articles
• Organic chemists think in structures: Drawing/Visualization
• The difficult task of Classification
• What's in a name? Nomenclature of organic compounds
• Want to refresh your memory? Tutorials in organic chemistry and related fields.

Communication

• Want to attend an organic chemistry conference?
• Want to learn the newest on the market: exhibitions
• Keep updated with the latest techniques: Courses
• Want to communicate with other organic chemists via your computer?
• Are you looking for a research collaboration: "The World Directory of Organic Chemistry Research"
• Want to join a chemical organization?

Additional Activities for Organic Chemists

• Looking for a job that requires an organic chemistry background?
• Want to turn a good idea into money?
• Do you have a few minutes time during your experiments for brain relaxation?