The story behind this acid is much more interesting than the acid itself.
The name "formic acid" comes from the Latin word for ants ("formica"). Basically, scientists noticed acidic vapors rising from anthills, so they decided to do what anyone would do - boil up a bucketload of ants and try to isolate the acid. They did, and called it formic acid.
It is useless.
Well it's not useless. It is widely used to preserve feed for livestock during cold winter months. But that was only discovered recently. The scientists who discovered formic acid certainly didn't know that.
If you ask me, they just wanted to boil ants.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Bacteria making you feel VILIFIED? Try SULFANILAMIDE!
Sulfanilamide - based drugs kill nasty bacteria by pretending to be p-aminobenzoic acid. The silly bacteria tries to use the sulfanilamide to make folic acid, but it can't, because it needs p-aminobenzoic acid! So the bacteria can't make any folic acid, and it dies, and we all enjoy a good laugh.
Anyway, you can make these sulfanilamides yourself. Just chlorosulfonate an acetanilide, and then add ammonia. The ammonia will attack the sulfur and knock out the chlorine. Now just hydrolyze the COCH3 off of the amino group and you've got pure 100% home-grown sulfa drug.
Anyway, you can make these sulfanilamides yourself. Just chlorosulfonate an acetanilide, and then add ammonia. The ammonia will attack the sulfur and knock out the chlorine. Now just hydrolyze the COCH3 off of the amino group and you've got pure 100% home-grown sulfa drug.
If acylating anilines is what you've tried, maybe you should use an acid chloride!
Hi there.
I know that acylating anilides can be a real pain. All you want to do is a simple Friedel-Crafts reaction, and it just doesn't work. It's that darn amino group. That thing attacks acids like a puppy dog chasing a squirrel. And you don't want to add your acyl group to the amino group, you want to add it to the aromatic ring! What's a fella to do?
Luckily, there is a solution. You can use the amino group's little habit to your advantage. Just feed it a little acid chloride, and it will gobble it right up. That will keep it occupied for a while, but won't change the amino's ortho-para directing powers. With the amino group tied up with the acid chloride, you can acylate the aniline to your liking, and when you're done, just throw in a little acid to hydrolyze the amide and clean up your original amino group.
It's a piece of cake, my friends.
I know that acylating anilides can be a real pain. All you want to do is a simple Friedel-Crafts reaction, and it just doesn't work. It's that darn amino group. That thing attacks acids like a puppy dog chasing a squirrel. And you don't want to add your acyl group to the amino group, you want to add it to the aromatic ring! What's a fella to do?
Luckily, there is a solution. You can use the amino group's little habit to your advantage. Just feed it a little acid chloride, and it will gobble it right up. That will keep it occupied for a while, but won't change the amino's ortho-para directing powers. With the amino group tied up with the acid chloride, you can acylate the aniline to your liking, and when you're done, just throw in a little acid to hydrolyze the amide and clean up your original amino group.
It's a piece of cake, my friends.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
