4 ms·

What is a group? (Group of people, or some chemical compound, or some kind of corporate structure, protecting possibly illegal stuff going on in one of the grou

What is a group? (Group of people, or some chemical compound, or some kind of corporate structure, protecting possibly illegal stuff going on in one of the groups?) Are all the precursors scheduled, or is the punchline that the TA was wrong? Why would one do well to remember to characterise any synthesis undertaken? To protect oneself against legal action by showing that the labs purpose was synthesising legal compounds? Is "TA" the same as Tax Attorney?

gspr 6y ago
I'm guessing TA is teaching assistant.
Anthony-G 6y ago
Upvoted because these are good questions, indicating a genuine willingness to understand exactly what another poster is saying. That’s the kind of discussion that I come to Hacker News for. Not everyone has the same background and understanding of terminology and they shouldn’t be down-voted for that.
monkeycantype 6y ago
The 'groups' are chemical structures present in a compound. The student asks the Teaching Assistant (typically a graduate student who is required to do teach) a general question about how to carry out a multi step process to selectively transform specific regions of chemical compounds. The punchline is that the Teaching Assistant immediately sees the intent of the question, and goes from the general to the specific and replies: [ you won't be able to synthesise LSD with that approach because ] "all of the precursors are also scheduled."
dekhn 6y ago
A "group" is a bundle of atoms that hangs off the side of a core structure, typically. http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/G/group.html http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/G/group.html When you do a reaction on a chemical, the reaction can often affect multiple different parts of the structure, even if you only want it to affect one site. So, you can pop a "protecting group" onto the site you don't want modified, and then remove it later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_group A TA is a teaching assistant; typically a grad student with lots of knowledge teaching a class to undergrads. You would want to characterize any synthesis- verify your work to make sure you got high quality product that is pure.
echelon 6y ago
Leaving groups are the part of the molecule that are designed to "leave" during a particular reaction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_group You design your synthesis around this and try to pick pathways that are easy, have the highest yields, and don't produce undesirable products you have to remove.

gspr 6y ago

I'm guessing TA is teaching assistant.

Anthony-G 6y ago

Upvoted because these are good questions, indicating a genuine willingness to understand exactly what another poster is saying. That’s the kind of discussion that I come to Hacker News for. Not everyone has the same background and understanding of terminology and they shouldn’t be down-voted for that.

monkeycantype 6y ago

The 'groups' are chemical structures present in a compound. The student asks the Teaching Assistant (typically a graduate student who is required to do teach) a general question about how to carry out a multi step process to selectively transform specific regions of chemical compounds. The punchline is that the Teaching Assistant immediately sees the intent of the question, and goes from the general to the specific and replies: [ you won't be able to synthesise LSD with that approach because ] "all of the precursors are also scheduled."

dekhn 6y ago

A "group" is a bundle of atoms that hangs off the side of a core structure, typically. http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/G/group.html http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/G/group.html When you do a reaction on a chemical, the reaction can often affect multiple different parts of the structure, even if you only want it to affect one site. So, you can pop a "protecting group" onto the site you don't want modified, and then remove it later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_group A TA is a teaching assistant; typically a grad student with lots of knowledge teaching a class to undergrads. You would want to characterize any synthesis- verify your work to make sure you got high quality product that is pure.

echelon 6y ago

Leaving groups are the part of the molecule that are designed to "leave" during a particular reaction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaving_group You design your synthesis around this and try to pick pathways that are easy, have the highest yields, and don't produce undesirable products you have to remove.