A Peregrination of Life in Notes

As mentioned in my Epiphyllum thread, a couple days ago I noticed some new growth on my Epi. "Climax." Well, it seems to be growing quickly. Very quickly.
It was about 4 mm yesterday. Today it measures in at a 9 mm, approaching 1 cm!
I haven't taken care of many plants in my past, so I don't know if that sort of speed is typical. In any case, it reminds me of why I love growing plants: I remain in awe of nature's power. The fact that a little seed can grow into a gargantuan...

The reaction I set up yesterday was very successful. It went according to plan, and at my best estimates, I have approximately 95% pure 4-bromoresorcinol.
Tomorrow, I'll recrystallize the crude product that I have and get an idea of % yield. My hope is that it is at least 80%.

Anyway, here are some TLC plates from today's analysis:

A list of classes I'm taking this semester:

Honors General Chemistry 2 for chemistry majors.
Chemistry lab
German 2
Calculus 2
History of Western Science and Technology
Archaeology and Prehistory
Research (not actually the name of a class... but you know...)

Also, as a follow-up to my previous entry, I'm currently attempting to synthesize 4-bromoresorcinol with good yield. We'll see over the next couple days if it works. Fingers...

It's problematic when a very simple reagent one needs for a chemical reaction is really expensive to buy.
Then one realizes that the reason it is so expensive is that there is no easy way to produce it in large quantities.
Why are the small things in life some of the most frustrating?

Need to find a way of mass-synthesizing this stubborn compound.


MB

I've made it back to college. Yay.
Everything has been put back in place, except for my roommate. He's still MIA.
Anyway, classes start tomorrow. This semester we see the opening of our brand new Integrated Sciences Building, which promises to provide hours and hours of fun for us science-lovers. More on this to come.

I thought I'd take a quick pic of my desk area in my dorm room and share. Of particular interest: my Hypography mug and Epies!