Welcome to the exciting world of chemistry!
I look forward to introducing you to the wonderful world of chemistry! I teach courses in General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry at Santa Monica College. My Ph.D. research was on the synthesis of new antibiotics with the goal of improving antibiotic activity. This project used concepts and techniques drawn from organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and microbiology. As many will attest, science is increasingly multidisciplinary!
You might not realize that most of the world around you can be described in terms of molecules! Below are a sampling of the organic molecules that surround us. Chemistry gives us a molecular view of the world that enhances our appreciation of just how complex even "simple" things really are!
For information about enrolling at Santa Monica College, click here. To see the courses that I teach at SMC, click here.
Organic molecules surround us and make life work.
Appearances can be deceiving.
Even "simple things" like the humble potato or the simple weed growing out of a crack in the ground contains a dizzying array of chemical complexity. In learning organic chemistry, you will begin to appreciate the complexity of chemical structures (both natural and synthetic) and also begin to think about how chemists synthesize molecules that have never been made before.
(Picture: a flowering weed growing through the cracks of the concrete by the entrance to our SMC Physical Sciences Building)
(Picture: a flowering weed growing through the cracks of the concrete by the entrance to our SMC Physical Sciences Building)
Below are the chemical structures of molecules commonly found on every nutrition label.
