This week in Lab we moved on to substrate scopes for our project. This means that we will try all types of different substrates in our reaction to try and find the most efficient one that gives us the best yield. We started on Monday by running 6 new reactions, each with a different material. We have done this same process before, but this is the most I have ever done in one go so it was a step up. Once we had mixed them, we placed them on the heating plate for two hours. Then, we attached the vials of each compound on the Rotavap to remove the solvents. Finally taking an NMR of the results to see the results.
We also set up two new Sonogashira reactions to make more products. This one was very similar to the last one we had made, however one of them didn’t create any product so we hypothesized that there was a possible leak in the valve that accidentally exposed it to air instead of just pure nitrogen. Introduction of oxygen causes our wanted compound to not form and form other “trash” compounds that are useless. It is good to have some failures in lab because we can learn to be as successful as we can be next time.
On Friday this week our lab did a beach day to La Jolla Shores and we had lunch on the beach. It was very fun to get out of the lab and talk with my coworkers while in such a beautiful place. Apparently that beach is very prone to stingray stings so I was very cautious as I never want to experience that pain again. But other than that the swimming was great and we enjoyed a nice day at the beach.
Saturday, the other Interns and I went to the San Diego Zoo and explored all the exhibits and saw a bunch of really cool animals. The Africa area was super interesting seeing the elephants and zebras. There was a Giraffe feeding going on but we didn’t have tickets for that, it was still very cute to see them eating out of peoples hands. My favorite part was the snake and reptiles exhibit where they had some of the most venomous snakes in the world right in front of you. One of the most beautiful ones was the albino cobra that was completely white. In the wild, that snake would not have survived because it had no camouflage.
Sunday I am planning on going up to Laguna beach to help my host mom’s brother plant a tree on his farm. It should be very interesting and I am exited to continue this Internship.
Interesting work! Beach and zoo days sound like a blast too. What a great internship!
Yay! Such a fun internship! I’ve loved being at you adjacent fume hood for the past 6 weeks. I’m gonna miss you this weekend — see you Monday!