Talk:Mod:130290nayr

1.2.1 Cp dimers: Looks fine.

1.2.2 NAD: Symmetry? There is no six membered ring to change the conformation of! What specific interaction causes the Grignard to attack above the ring? Your analysis is fine, you just haven’t outlined your answers clearly enough.

1.2.3 Taxol: Your structures are wrong so you energies are slightly out. Good to see you working your way logically through the conformations of the cyclohexyl ring. I wouldn’t say it was inert to hydrogenation, I’m sure you could find some conditions which would work. Good discussion.

1.3.1 Carbene: Another good discussion, although the orbital interactions aren’t an additional reason, they are the reason the syn alkene is more nucleophilic.

Mini-project: You’ve changed energy units again, try and stick with one throughout, kcal mol-1 is the most common. You’re lacking any analysis involving your calculated spectra and the literature spectra. In reality, can the isomers be distinguished between using 13C NMR? Your calculated values are very close to each other. With the errors involved taken into account, I’m not sure you would actually be able to use these results for our purposes. Also, NMR data should be reported in order of the shift, not carbon number. Would there be any other analytical techniques useful here? This needs more work.

Overall: Some of your arguments could be outlined more clearly. A good attempt in places. However, your project was severely lacking. A pity you turned it in late. Although I suppose late is better than not at all.