Mood enhancement trivia...

[helen99]

I just received the Thinkgeek catalog, which has a line of teeshirts with caffeine molecules printed on them (I have one). Recently they've added a chocolate molecule to their line of shirts. The two molecules looked so much alike that at first I thought they were identical. There is a difference, though. The first image is caffeine, and the second one is chocolate.

Comments

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

They're...what, one molecule apart? H3C instead of H? (I never took chemistry. I have no idea what either of those are. Is H Hydrogen? It can't be Helium.)

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Not one molecule apart--each of those two diagrams is of a molecule. I forget the name for those individual units (my encyclopedia-fu is not strong this evening), so here's hoping one of the resident science geeks will show up and tell us soon. :-)

(H is hydrogen, yes. If you're interested, the other elements found in those molecules are carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.)

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

The unit is a methyl group, basically a carbon atom bonded to the molecule with a hydrogen bonded to each of its three remaining bonding locations.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Darn me for getting distracted with the process of synthesis of theobromine. You win this round!

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

That would be a "group" in the context of organic chemistry. The difference between Caffeine and Theobromine being one methyl group.
...
Science!

[helen99.livejournal.com]

This might be a place to start.. Their intent was to synthesize caffeine, but one of the steps seems to be enzymatically producing theobromine from tea leaves by adding insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidine. The question becomes, where does one find insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidine. I don't remember seeing that at my local brew shop.

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Not atom. Unit?

[helen99.livejournal.com]

I think the unit they're talking about is the CH3 methyl group, composed of 4 atoms.

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Specifically, caffeine is methylated theobromine (if the chemical structure above is accurate); one of the hydrogen atoms in the theobromine molecule is replaced by a methyl group (the H₃C, qhich is a pretty common "molecule acting as atom" in organic chemistry).

There's a lot of this sort of thing in organic chemistry, and methylating a molecule can change its effects somewhat (methanol versus ethanol, for instance); more commonly, the two molecules act almost but not *precisely* the same (in a less innocuous context than theobromine and caffeine, much the same goes on with amphetamine and methamphetamine--and with a *lot* of different opioid pharmaceuticals).

[helen99.livejournal.com]

I remember taking Organic Chemistry in college, and totally loving the subject. I've forgotten most of it, but it was the most fun I've had in a course (that and regular chemistry plus lab). I actually made up a filk to the tune of "Tannenbaum" that goes,

"Oh Isovaleraldehyde, how lengthy are thy carbons,
Oh Isovaleraldehyde, how lengthy are thy carbons,
five carbons long, five carbons wide,
no matter how we tried and tried
We could not reach the other side
of Isovaleraldehyde..."

Ah, the fond memories.

Yes, I'm a little strange...