| Current mood: |  rejuvenated |
Dr. Tellurium is inspired after meeting Prof. Em. Suzuki
Was at the Suzuki Coupling seminar at Biopolis this morning, which was conducted by none other than Professor Emeritus Akira Suzuki himself. Well, I was rather excited about this seminar even a month before it. It is one of the rare times you meet a great chemist for a seminar in Singapore. Though I myself am not doing any organic reactions at all, still I made it a point that I have to go for this and I never regreted it. It can be said that it is once in a lifetime experience and of a great honour. Only a pity that I forgotten to take a photo and ask for an autograph from Prof Suzuki!!
Not to mention I saw a few familiar faces in the seminar. Fellow researchers and academic staff from the same level corridor.
Well, in case those who have no idea what Suzuki Coupling reaction is about... In a nutshell, it is a very useful route to couple (aka link) two organic fragments together. The advantage of this methodology is its high purity, yield and mild reaction conditions.
Typically...
RX + R'B(OH)2 ---(with Pd(PPh3)4 and Na2CO3)----> R-R'
ArX + Ar'B(OH)2 ---(with Pd(PPh3)4 and Na2CO3)----> Ar-Ar'
It is so interesting to note that Chemistry itself is a universal language. During the Q&A session, Prof. Suzuki didn't quite understand some of the questions asked by the audience, probably due to different accents in English. All was solved when they took out the paper and drew the chemical structures, much to the audience's amusement. Well, thank goodness for the universal language, that recently I also managed to translate parts of a Japanese Patent Journal written in Japanese.
Well done Sigma-Aldrich for organising this great seminar. I will be looking forward to the next one! I'm definitely inspired.
And so the journey continues...
The Journey Towards the Promised Land III.
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