exsequar: (SN Dean facepalm!)
exsequar ([personal profile] exsequar) wrote2007-10-30 09:31 pm
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So. Anyone out there familiar with the kinetics of redox reactions and their analysis using the Bronsted-Berrum equation and the effect of ionic strength on the speed of said redox reaction?

...

*crickets*

*sigh*

[identity profile] hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com 2007-10-30 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
No... but I'm guessing that the stronger the ion doing the redoxifying (shut up, that is totally the right term) the faster it goes? Maybe?

Your icon is soooo appropriate.

[identity profile] exsequar.livejournal.com 2007-10-30 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
My Dean facepalming icon comes into perfectly appropriate use FAR too often for comfort. If all my other icons go the way of the dinosaur, i feel that one will still be going strong. This one comes a close second.

Um. It's not about the actual ions involved in the redox reaction but rather the strength of the environment the reaction is occuring in, in this case a solution of sodium nitrate whose concentration we have varied. The rate constant was supposed to go up with increasing ionic strenght, in a linear fashion, but of course that's the data I got a U shape for. Wooonderful.

[identity profile] hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com 2007-11-01 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
What a coincidence-- today in my orgo lecture we talked about the effect solvent has on the rate of SN2 reactions. Then in lab I reduced 4-tert-butylcyclohexanone into cis- and trans-4-tert-butylcyclohexanol. Dee-licious. I'm so so late on this, but is it possible that some sort of side reaction occurred? I'm just guessing here. Will you ever find out what the right answer is? I'm actually really curious now.

OH! You might be interested in this, possibly: a group of biochemists managed to determine the crystal structure of a type of membrane-bound adrenergic protein (aka epinephrine receptor). There's a summary in Chemical & Engineering News and a paper about it in Nature, as well as some other places. SUPER COOL MAN.