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The Chemistry of a PhD

The Chemistry of a PhD

Ramblings of a Drug Discovery PhD student who should really be in the lab or writing her thesis.

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Posted on March 31, 2019March 25, 2019

PhD Update: 2019 Q1

This is the last year I’ll be spending in the lab before writing up my PhD next year. I thought it would be useful for me to blog where I am now and what I still need to do in terms of my research about once a quarter. Now that we’re at the end of …

Continue reading "PhD Update: 2019 Q1"

About me

Hi there! Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Fiona Scott. I am a PhD student at Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, based at University of Sussex on the south coast of the UK. I enjoy sharing my love of science and the highs and lows of PhD life on this blog – and also on Twitter and Instagram.

 

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🌉Chemistry and Corrosion🌉 I am really enjoying living back in Scotland. We have lots of stunning countryside, but we also have stunning feats of engineering as well. This is the Forth Bridge which spans the Firth of Forth on the east coast on Scotland. You can see the bridge when you descend into Edinburgh airport, along with two other bridges. Each bridge was built in a different century: the Forth (Rail) Bridge opened in 1890, the Forth Road Bridge in 1964 and the Queensferry Crossing opened in 2017 to reduce usage on the aging Forth Road Bridge. I drive over the adjacent Queensferry Crossing once or twice a week. The Forth Bridge used to be known for its perpetual paint job. Corrosion is a specific form of oxidation reaction between iron, water and oxygen. It happens over a long period of time and is a process you definitely want to prevent in important structures like bridges! It is summarised in the following chemical equation: Iron (Fe) + oxygen (O2) + water (H2O) → hydrated iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) People used to be permenantly employed to paint the 2.5 km long bridge because once they had finished, the paint at the other end of the bridge had started to perish so they’d have to start again. The phrase ‘painting the Forth Bridge’ has come to mean working on a never-ending task. In 2002 however, a new paint was produced that was in the same “Forth Bridge Red” but had improved anti-corrosion properties. The last paint job the bridge had was in 2011 and it shouldn’t need to be painted again for another 20 years. The new glass-flake epoxy paint doesn’t simply coat the metal, but forms chemical bonds with the steel metal to reduce its exposure to the elements. Chemistry played a part in the formulation of that new paint and while it’s a little sad those jobs don’t exist anymore, it’s a nice example of how science can make differences in society over time. Have you ever visited the three bridges in Scotland? What else do you know about corrosion?
♻️Plastic #6: Polystyrene/PS♻️ The next plastic in this series is polystyrene. You have probably come across this material and its name. Polystyrene is a very versatile material. It is easy to make and is used in plastic egg boxes, food boxes, fast food trays, disposable cups, CD, VHS (#throwback) and DVD cases. You can also find it in coat hangers and packaging foam. Polystyrene is made of “styrene” monomers. Styrene is also known as ethenylbenzene, vinylbenzene and benzylethene – chemistry had a bit of an issue with its naming conventions in that there are multiple names for something, depending on what you decide is the most important part of the molecule. The “benzene” bit of the name refers to a hexagonal arrangement of six carbon atoms with alternating single and double carbon-carbon bonds – which in reality all overlap a little bit, making this ring a particularly stable arrangement of atoms. The “vinyl” name like with PVC refers to a particular group of atoms being “next to a C=C double bond”, in this case the “ethyl” (C=C) group which we’ve seen across most of the other plastic monomers. The ethyl portion is the bit that forms bonds with other monomers by breaking one of the C-C bonds in the double bond. The benzene ring adds bulk to each monomer to give a much larger chemical structure over all. In my PhD project I’ve investigated adding a benzene ring to my molecules to see if it improves the properties of the drug-like molecules I’m trying to make. One thing I particularly find fun about polystyrene is that it dissolves in acetone – the main component of nail varnish remover. We use pure acetone as a cleaning solvent in our lab and if we’ve had a particularly large delivery with lots of polystyrene pellets in the box, its fun to chuck a couple of them into a beaker of acetone and watch them disappear! It makes some yucky goop but it’s one way of reducing the amount of space the foam takes up in the bin, which is mostly air. Polystyrene is rarely recycled unfortunately. I’ve definitely noticed a move away from polystyrene pellets in a lot of packaging. What other things have you seen that are made of polystyrene?
💻Closing the laptop for a bit💻 This morning I rather enjoyed sending away my thesis introduction to my colleagues for proof reading and closing my laptop. I don’t plan to open it again until Monday. I had hoped to have finished all five of my chapters by today (my birthday) but I’m not quite there with my final results chapter. It’s turning into the longest chapter so far because it’s the most interesting story from my project. It’s currently longer than my other two results chapters put together. I’ve been struggling with being motivated to do the final 10% of it but I’ve at least written most of it so I’m ok with giving my brain a break this weekend. At least I recognised this and channeled my procrastination into writing my introduction instead. Hopefully as now it’s officially the last little thing I need to finish drafting before combining my thesis I’ll be motivated to get it done at the start of next week. In the mean time, I’m looking forward to a chilled weekend with a few nice things planned. How do you deal with writer’s block? Do you have any nice plans this weekend?
♻️Plastic #5: PP♻️ HDPE and LDPE are both forms of polyethylene. The next #plastic in this series of #chemistry of plastics and polymers is PP - polypropylene. The difference between “ethyl” and “propyl” is the number of carbon atoms invovled. Instead of the monomers being made of two carbon atoms in LDPE and HDPE, polypropylene is made up of monomers with three carbons. The post-it shows that two of these end up involved in the chain while a single “methyl” (1-carbon) group branches off the main chain. This creates a slightly chunkier polymer chain than that of HDPE. PP is used in bottle tops, biscuit wrappers, ketchup and syrup bottles; refrigerated containers, plant pots, drinking straws and lots of hinged lunch boxes, among other things. This is because the material has good resistance to heat, chemicals, grease and oil. PP is strong and tough but still floats on water. While a very versatile material, it often can’t be recycled because of these sturdy chemical properties that it has. What else do you know about PP?

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  • I’m featured on my University’s website! January 31, 2020
  • PhD Update: 2019 Q3 October 7, 2019
  • Six tips to survive a heatwave working in a chemistry lab July 23, 2019
  • PhD Update: 2019 Q2 July 11, 2019
  • What’s In My Fume Hood? May 2, 2019
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