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From YouTube: Robert Burns Woodward lecture at Harvard
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A
Now,
what
are
some
of
the
factors
which
have
brought
about
or
accompany
the
really
fantastical
efflorescence
of
chemistry
in
the
last
40
years?
There
are
many
I
would
start
with
what
you
might
express
in
a
single
word,
rationalization,
that
is
the
bringing
of
theory
most
broadly
defined
into
practice.
A
In
addition
to
these,
what
you
might
loosely
call
theoretical
developments,
there
have
been
developments
on
the
experimental
side
of
very
great
importance.
One
of
those
is
the
introduction
of
physical
methods
of
all
kinds
into
chemistry.
You
will
observe
that
I'm
concentrating
on
organic
chemistry
that
is
perhaps
not
unconnected
with
the
fact
that
I
know
a
bit
more
about
organic
chemistry
than
some
of
the
other
branches
in
organic
chemistry.
Certainly,
the
use
of
physical
methods
has
led
to
a
tremendous
increase
in
the
power
of
the
organic
chemists
to
accomplish
objectives
of
all
kinds.
A
A
I'll
tell
a
story
from
my
own
past
about
the
synthesis
of
twinning.
This
is
perhaps
a
bit
of
fun
because
max
Tischler
is
here
when
we
were
attempting
to
synthesize
manin.
We
had
one
step,
which
involved
an
elimination
of
a
quaternary
ammonium
nitrogen,
to
give
a
double
bond
and
a
double
bond
might
our
priori
have
been
in
either
of
two
positions.
One
of
them
would
have
been
in
a
filadyne
position.
The
other
would
have
been
a
vinyl
position.
We
wanted
the
final
position.
The
analogies,
which
presented
themselves
suggested
that
we
had
the
vinyl
compound.
A
But
how
did
you
know?
How
could
we
tell
any
student
today
would
give
us
the
answer
that
question
in
not
days
but
seconds
so
easy
in
any
number
of
ways.
In
those
days
there
was
only
one
way
to
a
kun,
see
methyl
analysis,
oxidize
it
with
chromic
acid
and
determine
the
acetic
acid.
That's
formed
if
it's
the
ability
compound
but
a
cumbersome
way
and
in
this
department
we
didn't
have
the
facility
to
do
it.
A
So
I
sent
it
to
max
and
he
came
back
and
it
said
one
acetic
acid:
the
authority
compounds
what
we
wanted
was
the
final
compound.
We
spent
a
couple
of
very
very
unhappy
weeks
until
max,
wrote
us
and
told
us
that
American
made
a
mistake.
They
got
some
nitric
acid
there
instead
of
acetic
acid,
and
it
was
the
vinyl
compound.
So
we
were
happy
again
but
just
think
of
the
contrast
between
those
days
and.
A
The
Lipscomb
told
us
of
how
extremely
powerful
demonstrated
to
it
how
extremely
powerful
x-ray
methods
are,
and,
of
course,
he's
played
a
great
role
in
making
more
and
more
powerful.
They
are
in
the
organic
chemistry
of
the
kind
that
I
do
now
the
ultimate
weapon
made,
because
they
don't
involve
arguments
once
you
have
the
x-ray
crystallographic
structure.
You
know
it,
you
don't
have
to
argue
that
the
coupling
constant
is
this
or
something.
What
have
you-
and
that
is
a
relatively
recent
development
I
made
a
wager
with
Linus
Pauling
in
the
early
1950s.
A
That
I
would
determine
the
structure
of
terramycin
by
chemical
methods
before
anyone
would
do
it
by
crystallographic
methods.
Now
I
won
the
wager,
but
in
making
it
and
by
the
way
it
may
appear
that
I
make
wages
casually,
but
I
don't.
I
knew
perfectly
well
that
if
I
won
that
wager,
it
would
be
the
last
one
of
that
sort
that
I
would
win.
It
was
perfectly
obvious
even
then,
that
x-ray
methods
would
achieve
the
status
that
they
now
have
extremely
powerful
weapon.
Let
me
give
you
just
one
other
example
of
how
the
methods
have
advanced.
A
Just
a
short
while
ago
we
were
able
to
get
a
c13
natural
abundance,
c-13
spectrum
on
one
milligram
of
totally
synthetic
vitamin
b12
at
the
molecular
weight
of
about
1,500
I,
suppose
it
took
nine
hundred
and
ninety
five
thousand
transients
over
a
period
of
collected
over
a
period
of
four
days,
I.
Just
think
of
the
stability
of
that
machine.
That
can
do
that
accomplish
that
task.
A
We
have
now
tremendously
powerful
separation
methods
which
enable
us,
above
all,
to
carry
out
reactions
on
a
relatively
small
scale
and
still
to
know
what
we're
doing
to
separate
the
components
of
any
reaction
mixture
and
then
use
these
physical
methods
to
find
out
what
those
components
are.
So
these
extremely
powerful
separation
methods
have
made
it
possible
to
do
just
in
comfortably
more.
It
could
do
in
the
old
days
there
again,
with
those
tell
a
story
to
liven
things
up
a
bit.
A
Now,
people
working
on
that
for
many
years
on
campaigning
and
then
when
we
looked
at
the
old
literature,
we
would
find
that
people
had
taken
75
grams
of
kaincardine
500
grams
of
CAM
30,
followed
it
with
hydrobromic
acid.
In
order
to
see
what
products
were
formed
in
an
attempt
to
determine
what
the
structure
was
just
think
of
it
500
grams
of
CAM
thority-
and
there
are
many
people
who
would
think
that
would
be
an
absolute
tragedy
realize
that
would
be
enough
to
keep
the
entire
population
of
stay.