Classes at Yale: Chem 124

Barry Sharpless, Nobel Prize 2001

In my time at Yale so far, I haven't really talked much to anyone about my classes. Choosing a schedule was tough for me, as it was for all, but over the course of the semester, I've really learned to genuinely appreciate the excellence in teaching and the experiences I've gained in my role as a student here at Yale.

One perfect example of why I love my classes happened today, in Chemistry 124, Freshman Organic Chemistry. It's taught by Professor McBride, a genius and a maverick when it comes down to teaching style. He started this particular class more than 30 years ago, with the idea that the first semester would be an introduction to scientific thinking, and the experimentation and figures that led to modern organic chemistry.

Some complain that we haven't learned any organic chemistry yet. But this is exactly what I love. McBride does a fabulous job of sprinkling in these almost magical moments during lecture that always make me wonder if I really deserve this education as a mere freshman.

So, back to today. We had just learned about a particular titanium catalyst that drug companies use to produce Nexium, an acid reflux drug. Well, the scientists at the time actually had difficulty making the catalyst work, until one day the added a new chemical that miraculously made yield particularly high, and has made the drug company, AstraZeneca, billions of dollars to date.

Well, the only thing was that no one really knew why this chemical worked. Until the research of K. Barry Sharpless, who discovered the reasons behind the miracle ingredient, and would later win the Nobel Prize in 2001 "for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions."

Well, at the beginning of today's lecture, McBride brought up the original PowerPoint slide that introduced this concept, and challenged us again with our lack of understanding. "Why does this chemical work?" he asked us from the front of our lecture room. "Well, who better to teach you, than Barry Sharpless, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2001."

Then Sharpless walked through the side doors and to the front of the room. The actual scientist who researched the catalyst and won the Nobel Prize in 2001. He gave McBride a hug, called him "Mike," mentioned how he saved his back (scientifically) a couple of times when they were younger, and he was off in his custom lecture on his research and his life.

Graduate students flooded in from the back of the room. Students sat in shock, and some had the guts to take cameras out and snap photos. I sat with my jaw a little wider than it was before, and tried to absorb the man's aura as much as I could. I eventually took the picture with my Mac that you see a few paragraphs above.

There have been more moments like this. The time McBride passed around samples of carvone and smelled how molecules which were mirror images of each other could have the exact same chemical properties, but different smells. The time we just finished learning about a tragic story in science, the brilliance and eventual insanity of Archibald Scott Couper, and then find a thank-you note that we signed in class a week before, placed on his grave in Scotland with a bunch of flowers. It's been pretty crazy, just trying to absorb it all, but having the Nobel Laureate who was instrumental in researching our current material was just too much.

In short, Chemistry 124 is awesome. I just wish I had more time to study for the final :)