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Commons license.
 

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at ocw.mit.edu.
 

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PROFESSOR: Welcome to 5.111,
and today what we're going to

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do is introduce you to the
course and the people

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teaching the course.
 

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And we're also going to let you
know that you were going to be

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part of the great web exercise
that is OCW, OpenCourseWare.

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So, this course is being
videotaped this year, and

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this is the announcement
that I have to make.

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So, the videotape is in the
back, and if you want to come

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up front and participate in the
class, you know that you'll be

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videotaped -- if you want to
hide your face or whatever, you

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can do that but please pay
attention to the

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lectures anyway.
 

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So, this course will be
available on the OCW site

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in the future, I'm not
sure exactly what that

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date is going to be.
 

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So, today we're going to
introduce the chemistry topics,

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which we will cover in 5.111,
and give you general

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information, practical
information about the course

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number of points you need, when
the exams are, that kind of

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thing, policies, and introduce
you to the teaching staff.

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I am, again, Professor Cathy
Drennan, and I'm one of the

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lecturers in this course.
 

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So, because this is MIT, we're
going to start to quiz.

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OK, not a quiz for points or
anything, don't freak out,

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but I do want you to tell
me who these people are.

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So, what about this person?
 

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That's me -- this is my
college yearbook photo.

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OK, what about this
person over here?

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STUDENT: You?
 

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PROFESSOR: It's not me again.
 

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Not Elizabeth Taylor.
 

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It is Lisa Kudrow, known as
Phoebe on "Friends." So, we

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both went to college at the
same time, we went to

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the same college.
 

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Does anybody know what
college that was?

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STUDENT: Vassar.
 

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PROFESSOR: Vassar
College, very good.

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And we graduated the same year
-- now no one has to say what

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year that was, even if
you know, but we did

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graduate the same year.
 

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All right.
 

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So, given what you know about
us, what do you think Lisa

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went to college to study?
 

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STUDENT: Computer?
 

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PROFESSOR: Computers?
 

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No.
 

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STUDENT: Theatre?
 

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PROFESSOR: Theatre?
 

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Surprisingly, no.
 

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STUDENT: Nuclear Engineering?
 

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PROFESSOR: Nuclear Engineering
at Vassar, no for a

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variety of reasons.
 

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Any other guesses?
 

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STUDENT: English?
 

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PROFESSOR: English, no.
 

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Biology -- I heard it.
 

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Biology.
 

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What do you think I went
to college to study?

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STUDENT: Theatre.
 

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PROFESSOR: Theatre, correct!
 

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And/or I hadn't made
up my mind exactly --

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biopsychology or drama.
 

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So, biopsychology was what they
called sort of brain and

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cognitive sciences
in those days.

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So, those were the two things
I was thinking about.

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What do you think Lisa ended
up majoring in college?

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STUDENT: Biopsychology.
 

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PROFESSOR: Not biopsychology.
 

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STUDENT: Biology.
 

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PROFESSOR: Biology, yes.
 

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What do you think I
majored in college?

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This should be a bit easier.
 

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STUDENT: Chemistry.
 

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PROFESSOR: Chemistry, And, of
course, our professions,

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actress and chemistry
professor.

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So, let me ask what
happened here?

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My understanding about Lisa
Kudrow is that she came

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from a Hollywood family.
 

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She went to college and said
here's my opportunity to study

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the thing that I find most
interesting, and that was

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biology, and then she went back
and participated in the family

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business, which was of course
the acting profession.

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For me, what happened?
 

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Well, I have to say, I did not
like chemistry in high school,

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so I did not think about going
to college to study chemistry.

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So, why did I not like
chemistry in high school?

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I think it was because of
images such as this one.

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You spend a lot of time talking
about the transition between

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alchemy and modern chemistry.
 

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I wasn't very interested in
that kind of thing, and there's

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nothing in these photographs
that really appealed

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to me personally.
 

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I mean, Avogadro -- I'm fond
of his number, and he is, in

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fact, an interesting, if not
frightening looking man -- this

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just didn't connect with me.
 

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But then I got to college and
they said, "Well, if you're

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thinking about anything bio --
biopsychology, biology -- you

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have to take chemistry." And I
said to my advisor, "No, no.

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I have taken chemistry in high
school, and I can assure you

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that chemistry has no relevance
whatsoever to the life

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sciences." And they said,
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that

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way, it's incorrect, and you
have to take it anyway."

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So, I, like some of you in this
room, took freshman chemistry,

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because we had to, not
because we wanted to.

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And I, like hopefully some of
you in this room, discovered

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that chemistry was actually a
lot of fun, and that the

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chemistry I got in college was
pretty much nothing like the

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chemistry I had seen
in high school.

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So, let me introduce you to
some of the topics we are

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going to be covering in
chemistry this semester.

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So, there's more detail on your
syllabus -- a detail of what

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we'll cover every day, but
these are the kind of basic

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things that were covering, and
you don't need to write this

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down, you'll become
familiar with it as

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the semester goes on.
 

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We start out with some
really basic principles.

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So, up here, atomic theory,
periodic table, bonding,

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structures and molecules.
 

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And there will be a little bit
of history in there, but this

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is mostly modern chemistry and
represents the basic properties

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of matter, and it's basic
properties of all matter,

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including living matter, which
was what really interested me,

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that connection between
chemistry and biology.

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So, then we go to
thermodynamics and chemical

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equilibrium, and this is really
about chemical reactions --

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weather a reaction will go,
will it be spontaneous, if

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there an equilibrium, what
direction will the

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reaction be shifted in.
 

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And then, of course, not just
whether the reaction will

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occur but, how fast it
occurs is really important.

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So, that's kinetics -- how fast
a reaction will go, and from

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the perspective of someone
who's a biochemist, I'm

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interested in kinetics and
enzyme kinetics, and thinking

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about molecules that catalyze
reactions in the body.

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And then, there's acid base
equilibrium, and also oxidation

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reduction reactions, and what
is true is that most reactions

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that occur are either catalyzed
by either some kind of acid

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base catalysis or involve some
kind of oxidation reduction

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reaction, and so, this sort of
represents a lot of the basic

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way reactions go -- now,
whether that's a reaction in

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your body or a reaction in
a test tube -- it doesn't

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matter, a lot of the same
principles are involved.

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And then, we also cover
transition metals, which is

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something that you often
don't see in high school.

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And transition metals, those
all medals in the middle of

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your periodic table, have some
really unique properties, which

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are exploited again in
reactions that occur in your

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body, and also are utilized in
industry, for example, so we'll

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talk about some of those
unique properties.

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And if we put all of that
together, we get the real

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fundamentals that you need
to go on and study -- any

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kind of curriculum that
involves chemistry.

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So, these are all the
fundamentals that are involved

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in chemistry that relate to
physical chemistry, organic

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chemistry, inorganic chemistry,
biological chemistry, and are a

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solid foundation for studying
any kind of life science.

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So, I congratulate you of being
here in this class, this is

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really good solid foundation
for whatever you go on

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to do, here at MIT.
 

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So, normally at this point, we
do actually start class with a

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little bit of history from
alchemy to modern chemistry,

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but I decided to skip
that this year.

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If you are interested in that,
it's never required on any

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test, it never has been, but if
you're interested in that there

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is an OCW lecture, which you
can listen to that's an

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excellent lecture by Professor
Sylvia Ceyer on that.

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But today instead, I thought I
would give you some examples of

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modern chemistry -- why people
now need to know chemistry,

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what they're doing with
chemistry, what is chemistry

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research here at MIT, and how
does it utilize these basic

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principles, which we'll be
talking about in the course.

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So, I'll start with my
colleague, Professor

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Joanne Stubbe.
 

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She studies molecules, in
particular she studies

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biological molecules.
 

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And, so one of the things she's
very interested in is how this

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anti-cancer drug, gemcitabine,
works in the body.

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So, it inhibits an enzyme, and
she's interested in knowing

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how that really works.
 

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So, enzymes are made up of
amino acids, you have long

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chains of amino acids that form
together into a protein

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molecules, protein molecules in
your body often act as enzymes,

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catalyzing reactions.
 

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So, she is interested in how
this molecule, gemcitabine,

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inhibits an enzyme.
 

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So, to do those studies,
she needs to know a lot of

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the stuff on this list.
 

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Of course, she needs to know
the basic principles, but she's

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also talking about it an
enzyme, so she needs to know

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about enzyme catalysis.
 

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She needs to know this
enzyme works by both

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acid base chemistry, and
oxidation reduction.

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It has two irons that are
involved in doing the

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chemistry, so it includes
transition metals.

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She thinks about how things
bind, how the natural reactants

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binds, how the inhibitor binds,
and so she needs to know what

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happens to the chemical
equilibrium, she needs to know

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about the thermodynamics of
those binding events, and, of

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course, everything, all
the basic principles,

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are required here.
 

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So, to do this biochemistry
research, she needs to know all

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of these things, and she has
really made tremendous progress

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in understanding how
gemcitabine works, and it is

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not so toxic, so it's a really
good thing to have

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in chemotherapy.
 

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So, in addition to studying
molecules, chemists often want

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to make molecules, such as Tim
Jamison, who's an

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organic chemist.
 

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So, you will hear, probably,
hopefully, in this presidential

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debate about the environment
and about why saving the

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environment is important.
 

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And one of the things you often
hear about in this discussion

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is about our oceans and about
rainforests, and part of the

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reason why people want to
protect those areas is because

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you find a lot of natural
products in those regions.

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So, a natural product is
something that is made by

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nature, and often natural
products, whether it comes from

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a plant or a marine organism
have some really good,

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useful properties.
 

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And so, one particular compound
has anti-tumor properties.

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So, again, along this
line of cancer research.

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So, Tim Jamison's lab figured
out how to make this thing.

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And often that's really
important, because you can't

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get enough of the organism that
naturally makes it, to be able

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to grind that organism up and
have enough that you can

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actually use as a medicine.
 

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So, you have to make more
of it, because nature

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doesn't make enough.
 

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So, it's very important to
figure out how to do that.

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So, in doing that, Tim
Jamison's lab needs a

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lot of these things.
 

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So, he needs a lot of knowledge
of bonding, he wants to

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form bonds in making this.
 

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He needs to know about the
structures of the molecules,

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because if the structure is
wrong it's not going to work.

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And often, if you want to make
a lot of it, you have to think

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about the thermodynamics of the
system, how fast the reactions

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will go and kinetics, and then
whether they'll go, the

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thermodynamics, and sometimes
then you need to adjust the

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reactions, maybe use a
transition metal to

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make it go better.
 

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So, these are all the things
that Tim Jamison needs to know

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to do organic chemistry.
 

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So, you'll be learning in this
class a great preparation

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for 512, which is
organic chemistry.

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In addition to studying
molecules and making molecules,

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some chemists want to detect
molecules, and a chemist who

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likes to detect molecules
is Tim Swager.

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So, Tim Swager's lab has
designed sensors that detect

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vapors, and so they will
detect TNT, for example.

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And so, he has put this
chemistry to use in this

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robotic arm and they call it
Fido, because often dogs are

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the creatures that have to go
out and detect these things,

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and it's not a great job if
you're a dog to be sent out to

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see whether there was an
explosive and discover yes,

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there was, a little
bit too late.

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So, this is a much nicer way
to detect chemicals with this

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robotic arm, and here's a
picture of it in use in Iraq.

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So, in doing this, if you go
down to kind of a basic

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principles that Tim needed to
know about, oxidation reduction

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was really key in developing
this technology, so

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we'll talk about that.
 

271
00:13:53 --> 00:13:57
So, my final example is from
Alan Davidson's lab, and Alan

272
00:13:57 --> 00:14:01
is an inorganic chemist -- he
loved those transition metals

273
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04
and they're unique properties,
and he designed this compound,

274
00:14:04 --> 00:14:08
it's called Cardiolite, and
it's used in heart imaging.

275
00:14:08 --> 00:14:12
So, many people have relatives
they know of that have had to

276
00:14:12 --> 00:14:16
have their heart imaged --
heart disease is a major

277
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18
problem in the United States,
and there's a good chance that

278
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21
they had Cardiolite given to
them to help in that

279
00:14:21 --> 00:14:22
imaging process.
 

280
00:14:22 --> 00:14:27
So, this again, takes advantage
of those great unique

281
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30
properties of transition
metals, which we'll talk

282
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32
about in this course.
 

283
00:14:32 --> 00:14:36
So, again, all together, this
is the basis for modern

284
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39
chemistry, and examples I just
gave you, are some of the

285
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42
things that modern chemists are
working on -- some of the

286
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45
issues that our country faces
and our world faces, and how

287
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48
chemistry is involved in that.
 

288
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52
So, not only will you have the
fundamental knowledge to go on

289
00:14:52 --> 00:14:56
and take more courses in
chemistry, you will also have

290
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59
the fundamental knowledge to go
on and do undergraduate

291
00:14:59 --> 00:15:04
research here, and here are
some of the 5.111 undergraduate

292
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07
researchers that have
come through my lab, in

293
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10
particular, from this class.
 

294
00:15:10 --> 00:15:14
So, it's a really nice
solid foundation.

295
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17
So, I want to encourage you to
set some of your likes and

296
00:15:17 --> 00:15:22
dislikes from high school aside
when you come to MIT, because

297
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25
at MIT you often see
disciplines taught and

298
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28
emphasize a very different
fashion than what

299
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29
you've seen before.
 

300
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31
And you may discover that the
thing you came here to study is

301
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34
not the thing that you really
want to study after all.

302
00:15:34 --> 00:15:38
One other thing that I'll say
to you is that I said these

303
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41
words at one point, it's true,
I said, when I was in high

304
00:15:41 --> 00:15:49
school, I said, "I hate
chemistry." And now, I do

305
00:15:49 --> 00:15:56
chemistry every day and
will for the rest my life.

306
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57
I love chemistry now.
 

307
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59
Be very careful what you say.
 

308
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01
Have any of you made
that statement about

309
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04
hating a subject?
 

310
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06
Tell me later what it is
you're going to be doing

311
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09
for the rest of your life.
 

312
00:16:09 --> 00:16:13
So, at MIT things are very
different, and keep an open

313
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16
mind, explore new areas -- take
advantage of being at this

314
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19
amazing place for science and
technology and you may surprise

315
00:16:19 --> 00:16:25
yourself in what you really
enjoy learning about.

316
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28
So, that's a little bit about
the chemistry that we're going

317
00:16:28 --> 00:16:32
to cover in this class, and now
I'm going to talk a little

318
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35
bit about some of the
policies and procedures.

319
00:16:35 --> 00:16:39
But first I need to introduce
my co-instructor for this

320
00:16:39 --> 00:16:43
class, and let me just put
up her picture, you'll

321
00:16:43 --> 00:16:44
see her in a minute.
 

322
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47
So, Dr. Beth Vogel Taylor.
 

323
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50
So, all chemistry courses are
team taught, so you have a

324
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53
different lecturer for the
first half than the second

325
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56
half, and Dr. Taylor will be
doing most of the first half

326
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58
lectures, and I'll be doing
most of the second

327
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59
half lectures.
 

328
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02
So, Dr. Taylor will take you
from atomic theory through

329
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05
thermodynamics, and I'll start
up with chemical equilibrium,

330
00:17:05 --> 00:17:09
talk to about kinetics, acid
base, oxidation reduction

331
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10
and transition metals.
 

332
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14
So, you will have both of us
as lecturers in this class.

333
00:17:14 --> 00:17:18
Now, in the past, sometimes
students have found this whole

334
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20
thing a little frustrating,
that they just get used to one

335
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23
lecture style, and then all of
a sudden there's another

336
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26
lecture style, and
that can be true.

337
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30
I mean sometimes the styles of
the two professors couldn't

338
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32
be more different -- think
McCain/Palin, odd couples.

339
00:17:32 --> 00:17:39
Sometimes they're more similar,
and when I first, about a year

340
00:17:39 --> 00:17:43
and a half ago, got to know Dr.
Taylor, we sort of realized

341
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46
that we had very similar
styles, and we got very excited

342
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49
about the idea that we could
teach together, so that there

343
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51
would be much more continuity
throughout the semester.

344
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54
And so, Dr. Taylor had been
teaching the first half of the

345
00:17:54 --> 00:17:58
material in the Spring, and I
had been teaching the second

346
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00
half of the material in the
Fall, and we thought wouldn't

347
00:18:00 --> 00:18:04
it be great if we got together
and taught in the Fall.

348
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06
So, this was actually, for a
variety of reasons, a very

349
00:18:06 --> 00:18:10
complicated thing to request
and do, and so we started a

350
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13
campaign and campaigned for a
year and a half that we should

351
00:18:13 --> 00:18:17
be allowed to do this course
together, and finally just a

352
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20
few weeks ago in August -- we
really didn't know up until

353
00:18:20 --> 00:18:24
almost when this course started
-- that permission was granted.

354
00:18:24 --> 00:18:29
So, I have to say, I am very
excited now to introduce you to

355
00:18:29 --> 00:18:33
Dr. Taylor, who I would be
teaching with this semester --

356
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36
limited engagement -- who will
tell you about some of

357
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37
the course policies.
 

358
00:18:37 --> 00:18:47
PROFESSOR: Okay, so before we
get to some of these course

359
00:18:47 --> 00:18:51
policies, I think I'll tell you
a little bit about my path

360
00:18:51 --> 00:18:52
to chemistry as well.
 

361
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56
Professor Drennan explained
that not everyone that ends up

362
00:18:56 --> 00:19:00
as a chemist started off that
way on their first class

363
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03
freshman year, for
example, in chemistry.

364
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06
And in fact, if you talk to a
lot of chemists, if you talk to

365
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09
some of the graduate students,
maybe your TA, you'll find that

366
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12
that phrase, "I hate
chemistry," has maybe been

367
00:19:12 --> 00:19:16
uttered by more than one us at
some point in our lives before

368
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19
we realized, and once it
happens you don't go back, that

369
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22
actually you love chemistry and
it's hard to even remember a

370
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24
point where you didn't see all
of these connections that

371
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26
it provided for you.
 

372
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29
To give a little background of
where I was, sitting where

373
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32
maybe you are today on the
first day of chemistry, when I

374
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35
left high school, I had no
interest in chemistry

375
00:19:35 --> 00:19:36
whatsoever.
 

376
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39
And I have only one strong
memory from high school

377
00:19:39 --> 00:19:43
chemistry, and that memory
is shown right here, and

378
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45
that is the common ions.
 

379
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47
Did you guys have to
learn the common ions?

380
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51
Does anyone have that in their
brain somewhere for ready use?

381
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54
I don't, in fact, so it's
actually okay if you don't

382
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57
know all your common ions,
if you missed that part.

383
00:19:57 --> 00:20:00
This is the strongest memory I
have, and I remembered a) that

384
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02
I didn't learn them, and that
was really bad because it kept

385
00:20:02 --> 00:20:06
coming up, but the other thing
I remember is that I had no

386
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07
idea why they were important.
 

387
00:20:07 --> 00:20:11
I didn't really understand what
any of these molecules were.

388
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14
I certainly didn't understand
how they even connected really

389
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17
to chemical reactions, much
less other disciplines

390
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18
that I was interested in.
 

391
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20
I couldn't have told you, for
example, if we look at a

392
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22
phosphate group, that that's
going to be incredibly

393
00:20:22 --> 00:20:26
important in DNA, that it's
also an incredibly important

394
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28
group when you're dealing with
proteins and whether you're

395
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31
turning the function of
a protein on or off.

396
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33
So really, I just had no
context for the chemistry.

397
00:20:33 --> 00:20:37
So, when I started in college,
that wasn't even an option for

398
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39
me and I was interested in a
lot of things, chemistry

399
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40
not being one.
 

400
00:20:40 --> 00:20:45
But one that I was very
interested in was biology, and

401
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48
the reason was we did a lot of
cool labs in high school, I

402
00:20:48 --> 00:20:51
loved doing the dissections --
it was very interesting to me

403
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54
to think about how different
organs worked, how the heart

404
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56
could be a pump, how
the lungs worked.

405
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59
And then when we got to more of
a cellular level, it was even

406
00:20:59 --> 00:21:02
more interesting to see that we
could actually understand how

407
00:21:02 --> 00:21:07
our body worked as low of a
level as thinking about cells.

408
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10
And so, that was a clear major
for me to pick -- I actually

409
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12
also was considering English
and ended up being a

410
00:21:12 --> 00:21:12
minor in English.
 

411
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15
But, I think what most of you,
actually having come to MIT,

412
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18
have probably realized is
sometimes it's nice to major in

413
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21
a science, because you can't
just pick up a reaction and do

414
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23
it in your kitchen on the
weekend, where as you can

415
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25
sometimes join a book
group and do that.

416
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28
So, it's kind of nice to major
in the thing that you're going

417
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31
to get to have the opportunity
to do for the rest

418
00:21:31 --> 00:21:32
of your life.
 

419
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34
So, I actually also
started pre-med.

420
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37
Is anyone else pre-med here?
 

421
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38
Okay, so a pretty good showing.
 

422
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41
So maybe you can relate to some
of the reasons I wanted to be

423
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43
pretty pre-med -- part of
it was the interest in the

424
00:21:43 --> 00:21:44
science and the biology.
 

425
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47
Also, I wanted to help people
-- it seemed like a really

426
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50
clear way that I could have a
career that was challenging

427
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53
and involved in science,
but also helping others.

428
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56
So, it seemed like a good start
for me, pre-med/bio, and I

429
00:21:56 --> 00:22:00
signed up for my bio class -- I
found out, as Professor Drennan

430
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03
did, that I had to take
chemistry as well.

431
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06
I wasn't as upset, I was sort
of a neutral chemistry person

432
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08
at this point, but I thought it
was pretty smart to get it over

433
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11
with on the first semester,
so that's what I did.

434
00:22:11 --> 00:22:16
And my plan was going along
fine until something happened,

435
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19
and what happened was that
chemistry was just way more

436
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21
interesting than I anticipated.
 

437
00:22:21 --> 00:22:25
So, my perfect pre-med/bio plan
was getting a little shaken

438
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27
right from the start, and the
reason that it was getting

439
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30
taken was because I would learn
this new principal in chemistry

440
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33
and because I was taking bio
with the same time, I could

441
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34
see the connections.
 

442
00:22:34 --> 00:22:38
And at one point I realized,
"Oh, my gosh, chemistry is just

443
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41
biology, it's just looking at
one level deeper." So actually,

444
00:22:41 --> 00:22:45
all of my interest in biology
was quickly transferred to

445
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47
saying, "Wow, now I can think
about things on the molecular

446
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50
level." And one of the
molecules that caught my

447
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53
attention first, and I can't
remember if this was freshman

448
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56
or sophomore year in high
school, was the first time I

449
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58
actually took meaning in
looking at a chemical

450
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01
structure, and that was with
the structure of penicillin

451
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03
here, and I know that all of
you are familiar with

452
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06
penicillin, whether or not you
know the structure or not, but

453
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09
the most important part of this
structure is the four-membered

454
00:23:09 --> 00:23:13
ring here, the beta-lactam, and
this was the first time I

455
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16
thought I could actually
understand how a molecule

456
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19
worked because I knew
something about chemistry.

457
00:23:19 --> 00:23:23
So, for example with penicillin
what it does is it inhibits an

458
00:23:23 --> 00:23:27
enzyme that builds the cell
wall in bacteria, the bacterial

459
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30
cell wall, and if I thought
about what I'd learned in

460
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32
chemistry -- some of you know
this from high school, some of

461
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35
you will be very familiar with
this soon, is that this

462
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38
carbon here, for example, is
bonded to three things.

463
00:23:38 --> 00:23:43
Does anyone know what angle
those would like to be at?

464
00:23:43 --> 00:23:44
120.
 

465
00:23:44 --> 00:23:46
They want to get as far away
from each other possible,

466
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48
the ideal angle is 120.
 

467
00:23:48 --> 00:23:51
But what we have here is a
four-membered ring, so what

468
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54
angle does that have
to be, that bond?

469
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56
90 degrees.
 

470
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58
So, we have a problem here if
we're thinking about keeping

471
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01
things at the lowest energy,
so there's a lot of ring

472
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02
strain in the system.
 

473
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05
And I was incredibly excited
that I could look at that and

474
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07
realize it and say "Wow, that's
why it's so reactive, that's

475
00:24:07 --> 00:24:10
why it's such a good
medication," because when it

476
00:24:10 --> 00:24:13
comes into contact with these
bacterial cell wall building

477
00:24:13 --> 00:24:17
enzyme, the enzyme can actually
react with this four-membered

478
00:24:17 --> 00:24:21
ring and open up the ring and
relieve that ring strain.

479
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24
So, now the angles can open up
all the way to 120 if it wants

480
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26
to, and there's no way it's
going to form that ring again,

481
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29
right, because it's not going
to back to those 90 degree

482
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30
angles, if it can help it.
 

483
00:24:30 --> 00:24:34
So now, the enzyme is locked up
with the penicillin molecule,

484
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37
no more bacterial cell wall
being built, and the

485
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40
penicillin has effectively
killed the bacteria.

486
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42
So, that, for me, was kind of
the first connection that what

487
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44
went, "Woah, wait a second, I
want to be thinking about these

488
00:24:44 --> 00:24:49
molecules all the way down to
the level of individual atoms."

489
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52
So, at this point, kept the
pre-med, just switched

490
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54
the major to chemistry.
 

491
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56
The next problem came up
when I went and took

492
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58
organic chemistry.
 

493
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01
So, if you're dead set on
staying with bio, maybe, I

494
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04
guess you have to take organic,
so this might happen to

495
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06
you, just to warn you.
 

496
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08
We started looking at all
sorts of other kinds of

497
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11
molecules that became
very interesting to me.

498
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14
I especially love thinking
about vitamins and drugs,

499
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17
because I do have that interest
in medicine and human health.

500
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20
These are actually all examples
that we'll talk about in

501
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23
freshman chemistry at some
point, as an example of a

502
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25
connection between a chemical
principle we learn, and what we

503
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28
can know about how
it functions.

504
00:25:28 --> 00:25:31
But what happened here was I
thought "Oh, my gosh, now I

505
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34
could actually, using my
chemical knowledge, think about

506
00:25:34 --> 00:25:38
synthesizing these molecules,
or maybe coming up with new

507
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41
ways to synthesize them
better or synthesize

508
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42
different molecules.
 

509
00:25:42 --> 00:25:46
And the real clincher was
when I started doing some

510
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47
undergraduate research.
 

511
00:25:47 --> 00:25:51
Any potential UROPs out there
-- anyone planning to do

512
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53
a research at some point?
 

513
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54
Excellent.
 

514
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55
Okay.
 

515
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58
So, just to be warned, you
might fall in love with the

516
00:25:58 --> 00:26:00
subject you do your UROP in.
 

517
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02
This is one of our summer
students from this past

518
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04
summer, who is also premed.
 

519
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07
She's continuing to be
pre-med, which is fantastic.

520
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09
That didn't happen to me --
once I got into the lab,

521
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10
I didn't want to leave.
 

522
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13
So, I thought, "You know what,
I think I'll change the medical

523
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15
school plans and now I'm going
to go all the way -- chemistry

524
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18
major, chemistry grad school."
And the reason I was able to do

525
00:26:18 --> 00:26:22
that and keep with what my
original intentions were was to

526
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24
have a career that was the
fulfilling, in terms of helping

527
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27
people and being engaged in
science, is all of a sudden I

528
00:26:27 --> 00:26:31
realized, as chemists, we can
think about better ways to

529
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34
build molecules that are
important for making

530
00:26:34 --> 00:26:35
medications.
 

531
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38
Another thing we can do is we
can use our chemistry to

532
00:26:38 --> 00:26:41
understand biological systems,
so we can help illucinate

533
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44
pathways, maybe, that are
implicated in disease.

534
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47
So, the combination of these
two things had made my decision

535
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50
and I ended up coming here for
graduate school, actually, and

536
00:26:50 --> 00:26:53
working in Professor
Imperiali's lab doing

537
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56
bio-organic chemistry, which
means that I synthesize

538
00:26:56 --> 00:27:00
molecules, which I loved,
and used them to study

539
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01
biological systems.
 

540
00:27:01 --> 00:27:05
So, really I'm pretty happy
with what I've gotten to do,

541
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07
and I just want to say we're
not trying to convert

542
00:27:07 --> 00:27:11
all of them you pre-med
people, by any means.

543
00:27:11 --> 00:27:14
My roommate for many years was
going to medical school as I

544
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17
was going to graduate school,
and we found we had so many

545
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20
interesting conversations about
chemistry -- her from the

546
00:27:20 --> 00:27:24
context of practicing and using
medications and talking about

547
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26
how they worked on a molecular
level, and me talking

548
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28
about my research.
 

549
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29