So what exactly do you do as a Organic Chemist?
Oct 2009
It's about finding cures for different things using natural substances right? I have been looking into it as a career choice for a while now, science has always interested me but I would love to know more about it.
I had a wonderful career as an organic chemist working in industry. There are many areas of organic chemistry and "using natural products" is probably a minor one. Let me qualify that. In the area of small molecule chemistry, there is a relationship between the receptors of the natural products and their regulation by natural products themselves. However, the nature of natural products can limit their affinity, lipophilicity, and metabolic properties. I will guess that solving those problems, whether structurally related to the original natural products or not, is the bulk of organic chemical research. Whoops, left out a big one here. Creating an economical synthesis of any small molecule is also of great interest and research.
Is this for you? Jason Reitman has been interviewed several times with his movie "Juno" being nominated for an Academy Award. A quote I loved was something he heard from his father (and grandfather). He was considering going to medical school. His father said, "I don't think there's enough magic in it for you." Of the people I know that love organic chemistry, I think what they love about it is the "magic".
Is this for you? Jason Reitman has been interviewed several times with his movie "Juno" being nominated for an Academy Award. A quote I loved was something he heard from his father (and grandfather). He was considering going to medical school. His father said, "I don't think there's enough magic in it for you." Of the people I know that love organic chemistry, I think what they love about it is the "magic".