last updated Friday, January 23, 2009

Problems Set #7

General announcements:

1. Waste management and lab safety

a. I noticed that many students pour acetone down the sink, which is entirely unacceptable according to California Law. If the authorities notice this, we will get fined $$$$$$.

b. Gloves and paper towel below in the regular trash and not into the box where glass waste is collected. Students throw the hot glass waste (from pulling capillaries in there and the paper might catch fire!). On the same token, glass waste belongs into the blue-white box and not into the regular trash.

c. You are not allowed to wear gloves outside the lab. This applies in particular to the office suite in which the instructor resides since this poses a significant health risk for everybody in the suite. Another bad habit is to bring solutions and chemicals to the instructor's office, which is a no-no as well.

2. The next quiz (=quiz 3) will be administered on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 8 am covering the catalyst and epoxidation (experimental and theory for both). Please make sure that you show up on time, which means at 7:55 am. Otherwise you will not be allowed to take the quiz.

3. After the quiz there will be a Chemdraw training in the SLC.

4. Make sure that you make progress on your formal report as well in terms of literature research and writing the parts that you completed already in the lab. The draft version of paper is due on January 29, 2009 at 5 pm. The draft version is worth 15 points, the final paper 45 points. For more information what the draft is supposed to contain see here. Late submission will receive less credit. The more of your work you submit here, the more feedback you will get, which will beneficial for the final version. We will try to return the reports by Monday.

ATTN: answers to the below questions are due at the start of your lab period of Meeting 7; these answers should be part of your pre-lab write-up.

1. The last step of the epoxidation involves flash chromatography.