How to be a Successful Organic Chemist

27 Getting two phases confused during a liquid-liquid extraction, for example, or failing to get crystal formation during recrystallization, are examples of mistakes that can prevent you from obtaining product. 4.3 The deep understanding I believe that the following will not be a surprise to anyone, but it is perhaps the primary reason why stu- dents suffer through sub-par lab experiences: lack of understanding. One piece of advice I usually give is to make sure that you understand each step in the procedure. A chemical procedure is in many ways like engineering: every element serves a purpose, and has a specific function. A very fulfilling and rewarding exercise is to make sure that you have this correlation firmly in your mind before you enter the lab. This will give you a deep understanding, and make the outcome of your experience more positive, both scientifically but also personally. Do you really understand why we added the base in step 3? Do you really understand why we shake the separatory funnel, or why we add the anhydrous sodium sulfate? Do you really understand why we distilled the product, and why we did not recrystallize it? A key feature of surviving (and enjoying!) an organic chemistry lab experience is therefore to attain a deeper understanding. That way, you will see how the elements of the procedure come together, and how each aspect has a vital and important purpose. This can be a valuable way to prepare, and to make sure that you are stacking the odds in your favor, to make sure that the experiment goes well. 4.4 Taking notes and using the notebook One of your key tools in the lab, is your notebook. This is equally true of real research situations, where a scientist takes careful notes during an experiment. The point of the notebook is to collect data on your procedure, as well as observations you make. In theory, you can fill the entirety of a notebook in only one experiment, if you uncritically write down anything that you can think of. The key to using the notebook is therefore to collect not only data, but relevant data. This data will be imperative for you when you compile your laboratory report later. The distinction between irrelevant- and relevant data can be challenging, but we will cover some situa- tions here. The most important aspect to remember, is that relevant data provides proof and indication of the success and outcome of an experiment. 1. Numbers and units. Masses and/or volumes of starting materials, catalyst solutions and reaction solvents are always important. They will deviate slightly from the quantities given in the procedure, and you should record what you actually use because you will also use these numbers later. Many other numbers are unimportant. The amount of drying agent (you add enough), the amount of water in your water bath (you add enough), the setting on your hot plate, the size of the Erlenmeyer flask you collected your organic extract in, and the size of the filter paper are not important. 2. Logic. When you are asked to write a procedure as part of your lab report, you must provide a text describing what you did. The procedure in your report must match the information in your notebook; you should never draw on the lab instructions to fill in missing gaps. That said, many essebtuak steps are unnecessary to note. For example, if you filter a solution using a Buchner apparatus, it is not necessary to make note of the fact that you clamped the neck of the filter flask, and wet the filter paper before you turned the water aspirator on. These are standard steps that are automatically included in “the solution was filtered using Buchner filtration” is sufficient. 3. Observations. This is in many ways a very difficult category, because you can make an infinite amount of observations over the span of an experiment, but many of them are secondary or irrelevant. For example, a reac- tion mixture might change color from clear to yellow, and finally to brown.That may or may not be important,