A Complicated Synthesis Question

A Complicated Synthesis Question For most of the semester, Ive  lived and breathed in the ever-growing and never-shrinking universe that is Organic Chemistry. Time and time again, I would spend hours locked away in a corner of the library staring at my laptop screen, scrolling through pages and pages of Janice Smith, constantly drawing and re-drawing mechanisms of all kind. Remember Afeefah, the arrow goes from the nucleophile to the electrophile. Enantiomers cant be overlaid. And hydroboration oxidation is Anti-Markovnikov. I really have been living in a universe of Organic Chemistry. To the point where Orgo and real-life appear to be well, not that different. The last question of an Orgo exam is always predictable: the infamous synthesis question. The task is eerily simple. Make the following molecule with the given starting materials. You have a whole toolbox of reactions to use. If youre able to pull out the pertinent reactions from your memory, congratulations, youve been blessed. Cant remember the reagents for the reaction you have in mind? Better luck next time. Eerily simple. Because you either get it or you dont. Recently, Im dealing with a new kind of synthesis problem. To label it the synthesis of life or even the synthesis of my future is unfavorable for a few reasons: 1) its as cringe as it is cheesy,  2) its terribly frightening and 3) it makes me sound like a try hard. But in the process of dropping a class (Jeremy thinks I should call it The Class That Shall Not Be Named), and somewhat restructuring my coursework for the semesters to follow, I cant help but look at the path ahead as one big, incredibly complicated synthesis question. A chain of reactions that build of one another in order to move towards the desired product. One big difference? Often times you don’t know what the starting materials are. You simply let life carry you from one reaction to the next, hoping for the best. Final Product So whats the final product for my super complicated synthesis question? Im not entirely sure. We might be looking at three weeks from now, when finals will be over and Ill be eating my grandmothers home cooked food in India. Or maybe were looking at three decades from now. But to keep it simple, were going to leave the final product more or less ambiguous. Just an Afeefah thats further along the timeline. Still a disappointing 52. Slightly older: Reaction ToolBox Now, our toolbox consists of just one reaction: decision-making. One decision creates a product that calls for yet another decision to be made. And that also seems a bit frightening. But again, we leave the decisions ambiguous. Maybe its simply whether I should go to bed at a decent time or squeeze in another episode of Gossip Girl. Or maybe its figuring out whether or not I should drop a class. Decisions, regardless of density and volume: Retro Synthesis Now, for the strategy. Theres only ever really one way to successfully solve a synthesis question, with the retro synthesis arrow. Rather than solving the synthesis question in the forward direction (essentially starting from the starting material and moving towards the final product), you go the other way. You start at the end, and trail your way back to the beginning. It makes the solution significantly less complicated to get to. Theres More Than One Answer Now putting it all together, you get something that looks like this: an interconnected web of decisions that lead to more decisions that ultimately lead to your final product. There is one big thing to notice here. With the arrows going in all directions, we can start at one decision (or another) and still somehow make it back to our final product. And that, my friend, is the beauty of the synthesis questions. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE THAN ONE ANSWER. More than one way to produce the final product. In the midst of making the biggest decision of the semester, I needed a reminder of that. Even though Im almost two years into life at the Institute (wait what Afeefah? its really been two years? same. same.), every day still brings with it an opportunity to learn a little bit more about myself. This semester, its been about exploring my upper boundaries. Exploring just how much I can add to my system before overheating. I quickly discovered that taking four classes, two seminars and UROPing 15 hours a week resulted in very v e r y l o n g d a y s. And while leaving my dorm at 8:30 every single morning and coming back to sleep at 2:00 am was doable for the first month or so, I eventually developed what I like to call brain blur. You cant expect your brain to constantly be working at optimal performance if its not getting enough sleep and not being fed enough glucose. I was making it through all of my classes, churning out all of my psets, but something was fundamentally wrong. I didnt have time to really sit down and enjoy a meal. I let go of my workout routine to make more time to study. I barely saw my friends anymore. Phone calls home became shorter and less frequent. Theres no point in being dishonest. I really truly believed that it would all be worth it. Youre saying no to going out to dinner with friends? Its ok Afeefah! You have a midterm coming up, you need to focus. And so I reasoned with myself over and over again, until eventually midterm grades started coming back and something just didnt seem to make sense. Why was I barely passing my classes when school is all I was focusing on? But the next round will be better, right? And so I kept going on, convinced that just a little bit more effort would change things around. This is when raw exhaustion replaced the brain blur. I was tired. Tired of making so-called sacrifices. Tired of running around all day. Tired of not seeing the results I wanted to see. But I was an optimist. I refused to believe that things looked as bad as they really were. I cried out my exhaustion, wiped away my tears and moved along. Things changed when my tutor suggested that I drop a class. I was very much aware that that was a possibility, just not a possibility for me. Naive Afeefah believed she would never have to fill out a drop form, because things would always go as expected. That is, until they dont. The more I let the idea marinate, the more it just seemed to make sense. I scheduled a time to meet with my TAs, met up with my advisor and made many phone calls home. Drop date was quickly coming up, and making a decision made me anxious. For many nights, I chose to simply go to bed or goof around with friends. Because I couldnt pull myself together to make a decision. Dropping The Class That Shall Not Be Named took a lot out of me. A part of me felt like I was giving up, accepting defeat. Another part of me was convinced that if I had started off the semester working harder, I wouldnt be having to make this decision in the first place. Another part of me was obsessed with the fact that dropping meant I had wasted all the time I put into the class in the first place. People told me a lot of things. About how I need to take care of myself before my academics. About how even if I drop the class, Ive learned so much. About how the class will be significantly easier the second time around. About how realistically speaking, a bad grade could interfere with my ability to get into grad school. About how I could totally recover from this and graduate on time. I listened to it all. But ultimately, it came down to listening to myself. Listening to my gut feeling. Listening to what I was willing to live with. And so I dropped The Class That Shall Not Be Named. Because I knew I could do so much better than I was doing. Not just academically, but holistically. I had simply taken on more than I could do. I wanted to be able to take things slightly slower again, to wake up excited about the day rather than stressed out about the millions of things on my to-do list. I wanted to feel whole again. And so I dropped The Class That Shall Not Be Named and moved on with my life. I plan to take the class again next semester. And I plan on CRUSHING it. Because, this semester hasnt been a waste at all. Aside from being exposed to all of the material, Ive learned a lot about who I am as a student. About how I cant put other things to the side to focus on my academics, because everything is interwoven and connected. I need to be able to sit down with a friend and catch up to be able to do a pset. I need to blow off some steam by weight training to take a test. I need to eat a full meal to be able to write an essay. Success isnt sacrificing a part of yourself to elevate another part. Its making sure that you can balance and recognize every single part of who you are. Its being able to really understand and listen to yourself. And in the midst of all of this, its nice to know that life moves forward in different directions. That theres more than one synthesis solution. That a set-back might not be a set-back at all, but just a different (possibly even more efficient) forward reaction. Since dropping The Class That Shall Not Be Named, Ive found a lot of time for myself again. Im getting eight hours of sleep. I have an hour to spare in the dining hall every night. Im able to step away from campus libraries and into city cafes to get work done. My grades have started an upwards climb. Things seem to be falling back into place again. And perhaps thats the true beauty of a synthesis question. If you start with the starting materials, its strenuous and difficult to get to the final product. But if you begin at the final product and take a look back, the chain of reactions are easily seen. In the moment of making a decision, the future looks really uncertain. But looking back at the decisions weve made and the people weve become because of it, it all just seems to make sense. Because, my friends, we dont make the right decisions. We make the decision right. So whether life takes me through the planned synthesis or not, well be ok. Because waiting, just around the corner will be an entirely new one:

There Will Be Blood Analysis - 1581 Words

There Will Be Blood is a historical drama written and directed by P.T Anderson. The film explores themes of ambition, loneliness, lust for power, false personas, hatred, lack of faith, mistrust and loss of humanity. Anderson explores these themes through the characters of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday. In addition to character exploration, Anderson uses a variety of cinematic techniques in order to subtextually portray these themes. These techniques include, contrasting lighting, long shots, wide angles and mis en scene. The first themes to be explored in There Will Be Blood are ambition and loneliness. The film begins with a wide shot of a vast and open terrain. This signifies the emptiness of our setting. We meet the character of†¦show more content†¦Eventually, Eli attempts to exert power over Daniel by blackmailing him into being baptized. However, we are able to see that Daniel still holds full power through the God imagery association in the scene. A large bright cro ss is placed over Plainview’s head as he is being Baptized. Also, despite being on his knees he is still filmed as the dominant in the frame. The baptism is also used for ironic purposes because a man who lacks any humanity has now allegedly been saved. The film then jumps through time to the mid 1920’s. Daniel is living alone in an enormous mansion with nothing but a servant as company. This brings the theme of loneliness full circle. Plainview started out the film alone and in search of power. He now has massive amounts of wealth and power but is still alone. We also see a sequence in which Plainview drunkenly walks down a flight of stairs. This is visually symbolic of Plainview’s descension. This can also be compared to Plainview being underground in a mineshaft in the start of the film. Despite his long journey and quest for power, Plainview has made no progression. The film climaxes with a final meeting between Daniel and Eli. Eli demonstrates his false per sona in this scene when he claims that he and Daniel are old friends. This is just in a desperate attempt to get money. This puts Daniel in the ultimate position of power. He forces Eli to abandon his faith by denouncing God. This acts as an anti baptismShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of There Will Be Blood 799 Words   |  4 PagesDaniel Plainview, from â€Å"There will be Blood†, also illustrates the dangers of greed through his ruthlessness to get what he wants by abandoning his humanity and the inevitable outcome that accompanies it. In the beginning, we see Daniel as a prospector who discovers a large piece of silver. After damaging his leg and retrieving the silver, he drags himself out of the well and into town to cash in on what he had found. 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The Blood Wedding story happened on the day of a wedding in a village. A wealthy family has a large vineyard and the youngest son in the family is about to get married. Behind this coming marriage, the bride had been with a young man who’s name was Leonardo for sevenRead MoreBlood Spatter Analysis Essay735 Words   |  3 PagesRunning Head: Blood Splatter Analysis Blood Spatter Analysis Kenisha Callahan AJS 592 Dr. Steven Gilbert Blood Spatter Analysis Blood spatter analysis is â€Å"the systematic assessment of the visual patterns of bloodstains at crime scenes based on the physics of fluids† (Brodbeck, 2012, p. 51). It has been studied since 1895 when Dr. Eduard Piotrowski published Concerning the Origin, ShapeRead MoreAnalysis Of Blood Exo DNA996 Words   |  4 Pages Blood Exo DNA ProTeckâ„ ¢ Vacutainer blood collection tube for stabilizing extracellular vesicle DNA in a whole blood sample Research Use Only. 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The Inaccessible Inner Life of Wakefield Essay - 849 Words

The Inaccessible Inner Life of â€Å"Wakefield† â€Å"All these—all the meanness and agony without end I sitting looking out upon, See, hear, and am silent.† –Walt Whitman We are presented with a piece of gossip of a man named Wakefield who leaves his wife for twenty years to live in a house the next street over. If this story were workshopped in a present-day fiction writing class, it would be argued that this story has interesting elements but is not, as a whole, an interesting story-- that the story lies within Wakefield’s motivation for leaving or within the reaction of Wakefield’s wife upon the return of her presumed-dead husband, or that the point of view ought to be reconsidered in order to tell the full story. Much of†¦show more content†¦The narrator utilizes the collective first person in order to draw the reader closer to his story, addressing his audiences with phrases such as â€Å"Let us imagine,† as though we can somehow know the narrator in viewing another’s story through the narrator’s mind. The reader ideally feels as though he is one with the narrator in the way that all men are communal ly â€Å"one† together. The very act of the narrator’s writing his own thoughts on the event into a story, however, distances the reader, as we still now read the personal projections of another human being, one who, too, who cannot be known. â€Å"We know, each for himself, that none of us would perpetrate such a folly, yet feel as if some others might,† says the narrator, bonding his audience together against the questionable act of Wakefield. But what makes us so different from a man about whom we know so little? We know as much about Wakefield as we know about the narrator, and if we are one with the narrator, we are, naturally, one with Wakefield himself. And so we remain, each one of us, Outcasts of the Universe ourselves. â€Å"Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one

Opinion on American Gothic Painting Free Essays

I have seen this image, but don’t know the tittle. I have seen it in movies, cartoons, and parodies of the painting. The painting is a male and female who most likely live on farmland. We will write a custom essay sample on Opinion on American Gothic Painting or any similar topic only for you Order Now The male is holding a pitchfork, both of them look very serious but looking in different directions. They may either be just posing for the painting or waiting for intruders to leave their property. The male and female look bothered with something, they are not happy. They are wearing old-fashioned clothes, very traditional American clothes. They look healthy but the male looks older than the female, maybe her father or an older husband at the time. They look like typical suburban American people at the time. The top of their house looks a little like a church but they are definitely farmers. The painting represents the typical American family/folk in a certain time period and area. The painting is famous because it’s the reality of suburban American life at that time, and this may be controversial. No one likes to hear/see the truth. I did not know the name of the painting so I googled, â€Å"famous American paintings†. It was the first photo that came up, so I clicked on it and found out the artist and the painting’s name. I googled the name of the painting and got many websites that have material on it. The artist’s name is Grant Wood native of Chicago. The painting is of a farmer and his daughter posing in posing in front of their house, whose window and tracery had an American gothic style, which inspired the name of the painting, â€Å"American Gothic†. The models were the artist’s sister and dentist. Wood was accused of creating in this work a satire on the intolerance and strictness that the limited nature of rural life can produce. He sold this painting to the Art institute in November of 1930. How to cite Opinion on American Gothic Painting, Papers

A Moment In Your Life When You Took On A Great Challenge free essay sample

Describe a moment In your life when you took on a great challenge. What was the outcome? It was a rainy and windy day In Validly, where the Spanish Rugby Championship was being held. Thirty teams had managed to enter the tournament; the Spanish creme De la carme (including little 01 me), but now only eight remained. The other seven had withered away like leaves on an autumn wind. The other team seemed ready; an orgy of feelings flooded the pitch: fear, excitement, and anxiety.Our team, David stand in front of several Goliath but that doesnt make us back down but stand up, our opportunity has finally arrived, or better said, we have finally gained what we deserve. As we entered the pitch, eyes gouging our backs, eyes that underestimate, eyes that devour. We headed to the locker room, our war room, where we get ready for battle. I visualize some plays, review the codes and I think about my team, my brothers Inside the field, who I will protect and fight for during the whole day, and they will do the same for me. We will write a custom essay sample on A Moment In Your Life When You Took On A Great Challenge or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Our first battle started at am, against a northern team from Barcelona, nominated s the second favorites to win the tournament. Expectations were clear. Six more teams were watching, In the same way a predator looks at its prey. We are ready, we get off to the field, we went over some tactics and strategy, from this moment I hardly thought, I acted and made my body do what It has so long trained for. It was like an avalanche, we were the smallest team on the tournament, but we were still in advantage as we werent just a team, we were a family and each one of us we were willing to sacrifice for any member of our family.This made the tough, strong ND motivated rival, crush against an impenetrable wall formed by us. As the battle advanced, our enemies started to back away In fear, theyre moral abandoned them and now they were nothing but scared kittens In front of powerful wolves. We classified for the next round, the four teams that lasted now knew what we were capable of, or they thought they knew. The next round was against the host, a strong team with a well-dissevered reputation. The battle was hard, but no matter how hard they tried, there was no way of breaking our defense.It was the semi final and everybody was watching, although looks were no longer full of disdain but respect. The game was over, our enemies, destroyed, although we all knew that the great battle was still to arrive, this had only been a mere warm up. CA Valiance, the authentic Goliath was waiting for us, to destroy us. They had no kind of difficulty burying they re rivals on the previous games, and they were waiting fight and bleed for me, as I will do for them. Nothing mattered but the game, suddenly some memories came up to my mind: Training, having dinner together, partying, helping down syndrome children play rugby.. . , I couldnt give up, no matter how big and strong our rival was, I knew I was going to give all I had. The game was a real battle: every tackle, a blow, and every move, a lightning. Our rivals were real titans, they were the biggest team on Spain, the doubled our size and strength, but we had much more power of will, and thats more than anything. The game finished. We lost. We fought with all that we had and we were proud of each other, we made a legend out of nothing. It was then when captain of the rival team came up to us offering the trophy, saying that we were the real champions of the tournament.A small team, full of small people in size, had shown everybody what we were capable of. Yes, we didnt win the tournament, we ended up second and we rejected the trophy as it was then who won, although everybody knows who the real champions are, and if not, we do. And thats how people remember us, as real rugby players, fighters, and brothers. A year separates this event from today, but nothing has changed between me and my comrades, we are still together, aiming to win the championship this year, where things have changed a lot, and we are no longer a small team formed by brave wolves, it is a brotherhood of starving lions.

Keisha Brent Essays (622 words) - Education, Educational Psychology

Keisha Brent October 20, 2016 Psych 3820 A New School System In order for the philanthropist plan to donate money in the development of a school system in less industrialized country and it be successful he/she would have to come up with an outline. Within the outline they would have to know exactly what they will be donating money to and would the school system run properly. For instance they would need educators, updated technology, meal plans, books other supplies in order to bring the school system into the 21 st century. T his plan may or may not work due to the fact that the country more than likely have other economic problems and putting money towards education may backfire if things don't go right. Also the country more than likely have their own traditional way of living and became equipped with their daily routines. While the term "21st-century " is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, a nd problem-solving that help people strive to be successful and keep up with today's society. Being that this is a poor, rural, agricultural less industrialized country it would more than likely take time for everyone to adapt. Another thing the philanthropist may need to know is that there are differe nt types of learning; formal, non-formal, and informal . A formal example would be school and t o become truly literate in a 21st century classroom, it would seem both teache rs and students not only need a capable, working knowledge of the technologies available to them, but also knowledge about how to utilize those devices in such a way that meaningful learning occurs inside and outside of the classroom. Then th ere's non-formal , which would be educational programming aimed at those left out of formal education. This would be the discards of school system who usually are non-literate, making it more challenging for them to catch on to such an updated system. Lastly the informal way of learn ing normally would be taught by parents, peers, community members, etc which would also be the less likely to be affected by the "21 st century", upbringing. I say this becaus e people tend to learn things faster when they're raised around advanced technology and system updates, they become more immune. I n America we have come to value formal educa tion/ learning as a step ping stone to better opportunities career and skill wise, set apart from our context of daily living. In addit ion formal learning in the 21 st century here, teachers are responsible for imparting knowledge and skill, along with; learning via verbal exchange and teaching by verbal presentation. Were as we view informal here in America as embedded in our daily life activities and the learner is responsible for obtaining knowledge and skills. Usually learning by observation and imitation, while teaching via demonstration. Both being two good ways of learning and normally goes hand in hand. Over all the philanthropist plan would impact the traditional culture of the country significantly depending on how far behind there culture is from our 21 st century culture in America. Being that our technologies for most classrooms include such things as desktop and laptop computers, LCD pro jectors and SMART boards, w ith so many different technologies available, educators have their hands full trying to keep up with all the workings o f these capabilities. But once everyone get the hang of things the transition may be smooth and the plan could succeed with the right people and proper training. If the philanthropist really invest a wealthy amount of money its possible but will take time.

SpanishAmerican War essays

SpanishAmerican War essays THESIS : The United States didnt want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba. The Splendid Little War For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the worlds wretched and others were not (OToole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between i...