Rules of the Day 5-02-07

An optional review session for the final will be given: Wednesday, May 2 Room: WEL 2.224

For the review session, please bring any extra canned food items you have in your dorm rooms so that I can donate them to the Caritas House

1. Other atoms besides O can take part in glycosidic bonds, for example N. Imoprtant molecules with N-glycosidic bonds include the nucleic acids.

2. Cells in our bodies have complex patterns of carbohydrates on their surfaces, and we are only now learing about these structures and how they function. Blood group markers are good examples of this that you may be familiar with.

3. Both starch and cellulose are polymers of glucose, but starch has the alpha (axial) glucose linkages so it is bent and therefore not rigid (potatoes). Cellulose has the glucose monomers linked via beta(equatorial) glucose linkages so it is flat and the chains can pack together nicely to create rigid cellulose (wood). Click here for a molecule of the day that discusses most of this.

4. Many syntheses are carried with a starting material reversibly attached to beads. This has the advantage of allowing exchange of reagents and isolation of products by simple filtration. Can be automated, allowing the synthesis of even complex molecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins by machine. Also allows synthesis of hundreds of molecules in parallel, speeding up the drug discovery process.

Tips on how to study for the final:

today throug next MONDAY

1. Go through the rules of the day and the pictures of the day. Use this as a guide to uncovering what you do and do not need to study.

2. Study off of the outlines you made of the class notes and reading, study off the roadmap and mechanism sheets you made throughout the semester.

3. Study mechanisms, noticing similarities and and differences between mechanisms. There are more similarities than differences!

4. Learn all of the key recognition elements for the different reactions

5. Make flash cards with real examples of each different reaction, with the reactants on the front, and the product on the back. BE ABLE TO DO THE FLASHCARDS BOTH WAYS; LOOKING AT THE FRONT AND GUESSING THE PRODUCT, AND LOOKING AT THE PRODUCT AND GUESSING THE STARTING MATERIALS

starting next MONDAY

6. Get into groups and study reactions. Practice giving each other problems of the form: starting material A reacts with reagent B to give and get good at coming up with the products of the different reactions.

7. This is the important one that should take most of your time working in groups. Practice drawing products of reactions for each other, and get good at deducing what molecules and reagents were used to make them. This is the single most effective way to get ready for synthesis and reaction problems on the final.

7. Next TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY

8. Start going through the old final and other exams just to make sure you are familiar with the material. Do keep in mind that I emphasize different material different years, and do not assume what is on a final one year will be exactly the same in subsequent years. Nevertheless, if there are questions you do not understand, spend your last studying time going over that material.

9. Go through all the assigned homework problem sets and answers.

10. GET A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP BEFORE THE EXAM

Homework: Continue the 10th and final homework set. This one is focussed on the material we have covered since the midterm. It is due on Friday May 5th, the last day of class.