what's the point of organic chemistry?

[coke]

what's the point of organic chemistry? I mean I see the fun in unorganic chemistry- i.e. creating cool compounds, salts, nice bangs & flashes, etc.

 

but like the things i see people making here- cyclohexylmethanamine, p-nitrobromobenzene, 2-methylcyclohexanone, etc., what's so interesting to do with them?

 

really, the only things i see where organic syntheses are useful are like industrial products (i.e. making hydrocarbons, etc.) and drugs/medicines, but what can you possibly do with the products of the organic experiments you do at home?

 

and if you do make some kind of methylation/nitration or cyclisize or hydrlosize something, how would you know? its not as easy as with inorganic chemistry where things change colors, precipitate, turn into gas, etc.

Edited March 29, 2009 by coke

[insane_alien]

We make them because it is fun. There are lots of nice complex reactions going on and it can be quite challenging to get it right.

 

Also, the compounds are just as cool as the inorganic ones, there are a large number of salts and plenty of bangs and flashes if you screw up.

[hermanntrude]

what's the point of a newborn baby?

[Mr Skeptic]

Also (all?) plastics are organic, as are most liquid fuels, most drugs and medicines, etc. and all Earth life, so we have a huge economic reason to study organic chemistry and also a desire to understand not only the world around us, but also ourselves.

[coke]

no, i understand that organic compounds are extremely important on an industrial scale, or if your profession is biochemist or something...

 

but what can you possibly make at home?

[insane_alien]

any of the things you can make on an industrial scale. and even some you can't because we haven't been able to work out how to scale it up effectively yet.

[Mr Skeptic]

Wasn't nylon rather easy to make?

[CaptainPanic]

no, i understand that organic compounds are extremely important on an industrial scale, or if your profession is biochemist or something...

 

but what can you possibly make at home?

 

This is a science forum, not a hobby forum. People posting here are (sometimes) professionals...

 

Idiots who try to do stuff at home will one day get a Darwin award.

[hermanntrude]

This is a science forum, not a hobby forum.

 

can i use this?

[YT2095]

This is a science forum, not a hobby forum. People posting here are (sometimes) professionals...

 

Idiots who try to do stuff at home will one day get a Darwin award.

 

I don`t think that`s really fair at all!

I know Many home chemists (I include myself amongst them) that do this as a Hobby as well as a profession.

I also class my being here at SFN a Hobby! I certainly don`t get Paid for it.

 

so unless you know something I don`t (and by all means share it), I would avoid making such Bold inaccurate statements.

[CaptainPanic]

This is a science forum, not a hobby forum. People posting here are (sometimes) professionals...

 

Idiots who try to do stuff at home will one day get a Darwin award.

I don`t think that`s really fair at all!

I know Many home chemists (I include myself amongst them) that do this as a Hobby as well as a profession.

I also class my being here at SFN a Hobby! I certainly don`t get Paid for it.

 

so unless you know something I don`t (and by all means share it), I would avoid making such Bold inaccurate statements.

 

Note that I believe you only qualify for 1 of the 2 points: you do stuff at home, but as you said you're a professional, not an idiot. You probably know what the abbreviation "MSDS" stands for. There are plenty of people here who don't.

 

I said idiots who do stuff at home...

 

We've seen plenty of questions of people who want to make a nitro-organic stuff... We've linked, attached and mentioned MSDS a lot of times. We've mentioned the word "safety" countless times in threads started by n00bs. It's just true that people can get hurt from info they get here... I know that some people have functioning fume hoods, but there exist also people who will just add a drop of water to a strong acid while staring at it from above without safety glasses.

 

On this forum, a lot of people are just enthusiastic because they've seen stuff on youtube, and also want to do it. There are people who believe that a perpetuum motion is possible, and there are people who think that the first rocket they ever built will not blow up in their face. I'm not talking about you, YT, I am talking about people who want to make TNT in the shed without proper cooling/equipment/safety measures... they are here, on this forum. And some of them will get a Darwin award eventually.

[coke]

Ok, this was a stupid thread, I was never intending to do organic chem experiments, I just wanted to see the types of experiments you guys do... a great example was nylon, skeptic mentioned, i think i saw it in a popsci do it yourself thing once...

 

You gotta love DuPont... all of these things- nylon, teflon, neoprene, kevlar... those were all originally trademarks

[insane_alien]

also, you keep saying that organic chem is for big industry. well, so is inorganic. sulphuric acid, ammonium, LOX, LN2, LH2 all these things are made with inorganic chemistry on an industrial scale. so. if one can also be used in home chemistry so can the other.

[Var]

you gotta love DuPont

 

The future of science is finding "green" ways to reverse the destruction that companies like Du Pont have done to the planet, and possibly make a profit by doing so.

[nitric]

now i must say i'm not giving anything to this part of home chem(yes it seems i'm trying to get out of the "kewl" stage of home chem" but as for flash and bangs you have nitro aromatics, for salts you have countless carboxylic acids reacting with bases(both organic and inorganic), and all the azo and amino dyes

[brzozowskir2]

i know i am new on this site, but i think it is safe to assume that a good amount of the people who subscribe to this forum are students looking for help. if i had to take a wild guess, i would say that most of them would say that the point of orgo is to make the sophomore year of a science major miserable. i, being the weirdo that enjoys orgo, think it serves other purposes, though. If i survive orgo, i think i can survive anything.

[hellomister]

in response to the original poster, organic chemists use spectroscopy to identify the compounds they make. I.E. HNMR, CMR, IR, UV/vis. All you really need is NMR's though and an IR maybe.

[Theophrastus]

Another simple way of finding whether a change has occured is smell, as many organic compounds that contain the ester bond have a characteristic odour associated with it. Similarly for carboxylic acids. You can simply, based on the suspected groups, do tests, to determine the presence of phenols amines, etc.

[hermanntrude]

Another simple way of finding whether a change has occured is smell, as many organic compounds that contain the ester bond have a characteristic odour associated with it. Similarly for carboxylic acids. You can simply, based on the suspected groups, do tests, to determine the presence of phenols amines, etc.

 

although you have to be enormously careful with what you smell. For instance, cyanides smell of almonds, but usually only very briefly...

[CaptainPanic]

This is a science forum, not a hobby forum. People posting here are (sometimes) professionals...

 

Idiots who try to do stuff at home will one day get a Darwin award.

I don`t think that`s really fair at all!

I know Many home chemists (I include myself amongst them) that do this as a Hobby as well as a profession.

I also class my being here at SFN a Hobby! I certainly don`t get Paid for it.

 

so unless you know something I don`t (and by all means share it), I would avoid making such Bold inaccurate statements.

Another simple way of finding whether a change has occured is smell, as many organic compounds that contain the ester bond have a characteristic odour associated with it. Similarly for carboxylic acids. You can simply, based on the suspected groups, do tests, to determine the presence of phenols amines, etc.

although you have to be enormously careful with what you smell. For instance, cyanides smell of almonds, but usually only very briefly...

 

I rest my case.

[Theophrastus]

Firstly, I must say that obviously, when one is performing a reaction, it is controlled, and one can based upon prior knowledge, determine, for the most part, how the reaction will proceed. Cyanide doesn't appear from thin air, it is formed in a chemical reaction, most likely, unless, you previously, had some kind of cyanide salt whithin the solution. (You generally use a fume hood when dealing with these, as they produce minute, but hazardous amounts of HCN. Furthermore, secondly, when I was refering to tests, I meant reacting it in a particular fashion, or examining the substances' characteristic proporties. (suddenly blurted out in a creaking condescending voice) Abondon all hope ye that enter here!!! (Eccentricity!)

[cameron marical]

Idiots who try to do stuff at home will one day get a Darwin award

 

I dont understand...

[Mr Skeptic]

The Darwin Awards for Chemistry.