Organic Chemistry

In biology i learnt that osmosis is the phenomena you commonly see in semi-permeable membranes of a cell were water moves from a dilute area (lots of H2O molecules) to a concentrated area (more solute in the water). And then it is pretty much left at that in biology, from a chemistry stand why is this exactly? is it because the ionic charge of the salt that is being diluted attracts more water molecules through the membrane? Or is it more to do with water having more ability to 'move about' in a concentrated solution like other types of diffusion? (which made no sense to me but seemed to be the way my bio teacher was explaining it)

Sorry if i don't word this coherrently because i can't really articulate what i'm thinking in my head. But basically my question is i learnt in chem class that non-polar solutes can't be disolved in polar solvents because the solvent is more attracted to itself then the solute, and that non-polar solutes can only be disolved in non-polar solvents (like dissolves like). What i don't get is why the solute would be diluted at all even in a non-polar solvent, wouldn't it just stay in a more solid state floating in the non-polar solvent having no interaction with it because it has no charge?

Few days ago, as I got off the school bus, I walked on my driveway and guess what I saw? To my digust, my most favorite stationary was laying on the ground - soaked!! I thought at that point, it is finished. I will miss the front page news, the updated sports, political flings, people's opinions for the day. I tried to pick the newspaper up but it fell out of my hands instantly. I grimaced as I just tore it. To my second attempt, I put out my both hands and carry it like a baby back to the house. Then I put the wet papers on a bar and left it there to dry. Still at that point, I thought the papers are done, where I won't be able to read, because I assume the inks would ge…

anyone got a good formula for paint removal on clothes. its enamel paint on a pair of pants. tried turps, meths but that hasnt worked. any ideas?!

Recently I bought a rather expensive white leather shoes for daily wearing. After 3 weeks of wearing it, the white is turning to brownish and there are black marks on it. So do you guys have any suggestion of what chemical solution to use to remove all the dirts, marks, etc off my shoes? Perhaps limestone liquid? I want it to look like I just got it.

I'm interested in extracting Benzoyl Peroxide from some acne cream and then converting this to benzoic acid. Active Ingredient: Benzoyl Peroxide (10%) Inactive Ingredients: Aluminum hydroxide gel, bentontite, carbomer-940, dimethicone, glycerly sterate SE, isopropyl myristate, methylparaben, PEG-12, potassium hydroxide, propylene glycol, propylparaben, and purified water Would acetone be an appropiate solvent? (AP!?) Assuming I can extract some relativity pure benzoyl peroxide, how can I convert this to benzoic acid? I've read that hydrolysis of benzoyl peroxide will slowly yield benzoic acid. So if I let some BP sit in water for a long enough period of t…

Hey, i have 2 questions. 1. C5H4-C*H(Cl)CH3 Is the stereogenic carbon atom in this the one of the left, does it have four different groups attached to it?....Or is it the one on the right? 2. For a pair of cis-trans isomers, would reaction rates with achiral reactants be the same? Also, would the sign or magnitude of optical rotation be the same for a pair of cis-trans isomers? THX.

Organic Compounds - Limit to the C-C chain length? Is there a limit to the longest possible C-C chanin? Would it be possible to make a C-C chain made up of all the Carbon atoms in the universe? Its actually pretty mad when you think about - these chanins can be messive, millions of Carbons lond so my question is, is there an actuall limit to this or cna it just go on and on and on... If it would become unstable at a point then I bet it would have to be a huge number of Carbon atoms anyway! Cheers, Ryan Jones

What's the group that that methyl 2-methylpropeneoate belong? amine, amide, alkene?

Hi there Are Organic Peroxides very unstable? If they are then can anyone explain why? I've read more then a few threads on a few forums where these things are described as potentially explosive but I'm wondering if thet applies to them all and if not can you name one? Can anyone explain why these things are so unstable and also do these things have any practical applications or are they just too dangerous? Cheers, Ryan Jones

I realize there are other posts here on this subject, but from a chemist's authoritive point of view, could vitamin C really be this exceptional? http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/198x/smith-lh-clinical_guide_1988.htm http://www.netsci-journal.com/97v4/97014/vitc2.html http://www.chemistry-school.info/vitamin_c_and_citrates.htm I personally take up to 20,000 mgs daily and have seen my overall health and well being improve dramatically without any prescription drugs. ie., My high blood pressure has returned to normal, no more asmtha, my arrythmia's have subsided, cold went away in a day, etc etc. Placebo effect? or does it really work?

This will probably sound extremely ridiculous, but I'm wondering what elements (what types of atoms) people are composed of. I know that we consist of protein (amino acids) but when you break things down past the cellular level to the atomic level, what are we?

Is it possible to accumulate a level of cyanide in human's blood (by prolonged exposure to, say, KCN, in a poorly-conditioned factory) that's high enough to kill small animals when they bite you, without killing the human? I'm asking this because today I was having a wonderful zoning-out session then I remembered something my dad told me a few years ago. He told me a story of a guy in a very poorly conditioned factory working with potassium cyanide, and he was under constant exposure to KCN. The dosage he got everyday from the fumes and stuff was small, and it didn't kill him. After about 20 years in that hell of a place, one day he got bitten by a cobra (or was it a …

does anyone know of a program that is similar to hyperchem? preferably free? I need something visual to tell me why 1,2-ethanediol is more preferred in its gauche as opposed to anti conformation

I have done the experiment by adding boric acid, methanol and con. sulphuric acid in a test tube. Vapour produced gives a green flame when tested with burning ignited stick. Anyone know the equation for that?? from what i have discovered was H3BO3 + 3CH3OH -----> B(OCH3)3 + 3H20 but i am not sure the function of con. sulphuric acid, so i dont know where to put it in the equation

Hi everyone (Again!)! I've been wondering about this for a long time. I know that things like 1-methyl-2,4,6-trinitromethylbenzene (AKA TNT) is a structural formula - those I know a bit about already What I really want to know is how does a chemist decide which element goes at the start of the name. Take Sodium Oxide, why decided that the sodium should go first? Are there rules that decide what element / component should go first? Cheers, Ryan Jones

does anyone know how i can make isopropyl alcohol????/

Currently studying A2 level chemistry and plan to take it further, but my only trouble is Organic Chemistry. I mean, the mechanisms seem simple enough but the vast volume of things to remember!!! Has anyone got any tips on how to memorise all the reagents and conditions for various reactions? I know im not the only one to struggle with memorising the stuff, just wondered how people have got around it?

does anyone have any idea of how i could make some of these alcohols : - butanol - propanol - isoamyl alcohol (for esters)

wat duz it mean wen u have an organic compaound that says like m- dinitrobenzene or p-nitrophenol or p-sulphonamide? the little prefixes i mean

in the reaction of 2-naphthol (structure looks like benzene + phenol)... + HCl(aq), does the OH group of 2-naphtol undergo a subsitution reaction? So.. C10H7OH(s) + HCl(aq) -> C10H7Cl(s) + H2O? Because this was a solubility test, 2-naphthol(brown looking) didn't dissolve in HCl. A cloudy solution (also brown looking) was formed. Is this a precipitate(which i'm guessing is C10H7Cl) or is it just 2-naphtol that didn't undergo the subsitution reaction?

how does organic crystillization work if u have a mixture of 2 organic powders with different solubilities in the solvent? wat happens and how does it work (the recrystillization)

do you guys know any sites that could give me some good information on polymers. i need to know how they are made, who is credited wiht its discovery, its uses, its economic and industrial importance, and much much more. Thanks for the posts!!!!

I was reading yesterday about yeast and fermentation for a new project I`m working on with a friend, it said that Sucrose has to be 1`st broken down into 2 different smaller sugars by the yeast 1`st before it can start the fermentation, it also mentioned what if you use glucose or fructose the yeast can work on this right away. it Also said that if you take ordinary sucrose dissolve it in water and add a T`spoon of citric acid and boil it for half an hour, when it cools it`ll have broken these sugars down into the smaller ones the yeast can use. I`ve heard that Hydrochloric acid will do the same too. now then, I`de like to know what happens to this citric acid or HCl…

I read that functional groups that can be converted into charged species are able to overcoe the 5-carbon barrier to solubility in water. Why is it that a charged species is able to become soluble? Also if the functional group is acidic (like COOH) do I add a base to give it a charge? and the FG is basic (like NH2), do i then add a acid? [EDITED, lol original was quite idiotic] What is relationship between being resonance stabilized and being more water soluble? And does dissolving something mean that bonds are broken between molecules or within molecules