Greg LacknerMarian High School

December 14th, 2011

Chemistry After Marian: What’s out there?

The most common question…

“When am I EVER going to use this stuff?!”

Chemistry teaches us how to think

vs. Math, History, Biology

Concepts Calculations Ideas

An Education Road MapHigh School

(foundations)

College(general education)

Graduate, Medical or Professional School(Specialization in one field)

Industrial Scientist

Teacher orProfessor

Doctor or Professional Occupation

Industrial Scientist

Chemistry In CollegeMyth: “You won’t take it if you don’t major in

chemistry”

Fact: Most people take at least some chemistry

Majors: Physical Therapy, Biology, Physics, Math, Psychology, Environmental Sciences, Recreation, Dietetics & Health,

All pre-medical, pre-dental, pre-optometry, pre-veterinary

Wouldn’t you want your doctor to be smart?

College: General Education

General ChemistryOrganic ChemistryInorganic ChemistryPhysical ChemistryAnalytical Chemistry

Biological, Nuclear, etc.

College: General EducationGeneral Chemistry

Orbitals

Lewis Dot Structures

College: General Education Organic Chemistry

Morphine(Starting

Materials)

Synthesis

Reaction Design

+ +

“Cross-Coupling”Ei-ichi Negishi, Purdue University

Nobel Prize 2010

College: General EducationInorganic Chemistry

Oxidation and reduction of metals4Fe2+ + O2

4Fe3+ + 2O2-

Hemoglobin: Needs iron to work!

…Why is carbon monoxide so dangerous?

College: General EducationPhysical Chemistry

Fuel Cells

Alternative energy sources

College: General EducationAnalytical

ChemistrySeparation and purification

Chemical identification

Undergraduate Research Ask professors about research in their “groups”

(they love to talk about their own work)

Start looking ~ sophomore year (websites, professors)(even if you don’t want to go to graduate school)Why do it?

Nothing looks better on an applicationSmooth(er) sailing in graduate school Personal satisfaction, scholarships, etc.

Graduate students

Undergraduates

My Undergraduate Research Professor Michael VanNieuwenhze

Pablo Garcia-Reynaga

Dispelling the stereotype

Background on Natural Products

Pacific Yew tree

1967: US National Cancer Institute program makes a discovery…

Taxol

Component in chemotherapy treatments for many cancers

Problem: Need more than 1,000 trees to get a useable amount of taxol(Pacific Yew declared in danger of extinction in 2008)

Solution:

What if we could make taxol using chemistry?

Patellamide A

Marine natural product-Found in sea sponge Lissoclinum patella

Shown to kill leukemia cells in mice and to “disable” other cancer cells in humans

A disclaimer about cancer “cures”

Problem: “Selectivity”

“How do we make something that kills only the cancer cells while other leaving body cells unharmed?”

No obvious answer – We need your help!

How we made Patellamide A

“Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins”

-How do animals (like us) make proteins?

Ribosome stitches together amino acids to make proteins

Ribosome

Amino Acids

Patellamide A is 8 amino acids

Making Patellamide A

Strategy:

• Buy amino acids from chemicals company

• Use chemical reactions to link amino acid chain together in appropriate order“biomimetic”

• Connect the ends of the chain to form the ring

=

Graduate School in Chemistry

Year Duties

First Take classes, begin researching, teach

Second Research, teach

Third Research

Fourth Research

Fifth Research

• Most programs are 5 year Ph.D. programs

• Application process is just like college• Graduate schools pay you to be there

University of California, Irvine

Mechanisms Class

• How do molecules interact during a reaction?

Why does it matter?• Learning about reactions helps you come up

with new ones!

Substitution ReactionCH3Br + NaOH CH3OH + NaBr

CH3

Br

Na OH

δ-

δ+

+

-

Spectroscopy ClassIdentification of unknown chemicals

Spectroscopy Problem

Spectroscopy Problem

OH?

OH?

?

phenol

Last minute advice!Don’t force yourself to decide on an

occupationwhile in high school!

Take as many new classes as you can!

Take physics in high school if you will see it in college!

Thank you for your attention!

Questions?