You are hereby offered the opportunity to receive up to 25 points extra credit in Chemistry 247, Section B. Here's how it works:
Any group of 1, 2, or 3 students may submit VIABLE SYNTHESIS of one or more (5 points each) of the five synthetic target compounds presented in class 11/20/00. For reference, the five structures may be found at
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr/chem247/synthesisideas/A-E.gif
Ground rules upon which credit will be dispensed:
1) You must start only with substances containing THREE carbons or fewer.
2) You may use any known organic reactions. Each reaction used must come with a clear reference, either to a page in your book, a specific web site URL, or a page reference to some other book.
3) Conditions must be explicit, including solvent.
4) All proposals must be in the form of (1) an HTML file (extension 'htm') containing a brief discussion of the steps and strategy involved and (2) ONE SINGLE associated GIF file (extension 'gif') clearly and neatly outlining the synthesis. The HTML file must have the following file name characteristics:
a) The first letter must be a-e, corresponding to the target compound.
b) The second character must be '-'
c) The next letters must be the first/last name initials of those
involved, in lower case.
Thus, a valid filename set might be:
a-bhcdth.htm
The name of the GIF file is inconsequential, as long as it is clearly referenced in the HTML in the form of an image tag:
<img src=.....>
5) Both files must be attached to an email message sent to
taking the form of a letter to the editor of the fictitious journal, "Synthesis Ideas". The subject of this email message MUST consist solely of the word "Compound" followed immediately by the letter A-E representing the compound involved. For example:
subject: Compound A
Clearly indicate the persons involved (including names and email addresses) wanting credit.
6) No partial credit. The editor will respond with an acceptance or rejection email letter as soon as possible. Resubmissions will be allowed, provided they are received by the deadline given below.
7) Only the first of two SIMILAR strategies will be accepted. That is, all strategies must be unique. Credit will be dispensed on a first-come first-served basis. It will be the sole responsibility of the editor or his designated appointees to determine what "similar" means.
8) Submitting a proposal implicitly releases copyright to me, allowing me (as the editor) to publish that proposal at the journal web site, which may be found at
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr/chem247/synthesisideas
9) Absolute deadline for all submissions will be midnight, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000.
10) The editor reserves the right to change these guidelines at any time.
Never made an HTML or GIF file? It's really not too hard. I recommend the following general procedure:
a) Use a drawing program to produce a nicely laid out plan.
b) Select the entire drawing and copy to the clipboard.
c) Open Microsoft Word and paste the drawing into a new document.
d) Write your necessary discussion around this drawing. Include at the top a title such as "Proposed Synthesis of Compound A" and your names. Include below a reaction-by-reaction discussion of your plan.
e) Select "Publish to HTML" or you don't see that, try "Save As" and select as a format HTML.
f) Save the document under the prescribed file name, as described above.
That's it. You are done. The process of saving as HTML creates a GIF file automatically from your drawing. On newer versions of Word, the GIF file will be in a subdirectory of the main HTML file in a directory looking something like this:
a-bhcdth_files\
Send both files attached to your proposal submission letter by email to
Extra credit, by the way, means "not part of the curve." Choosing not to do this extra credit will in no way reduce your grade. I will calculate the curve completely "extra-credit blind," then add in extra credit to determine your overall course grade.
Have fun!
Robert M. Hanson
Editor
Synthesis Ideas
synthesis-ideas@stolaf.edu
