Transcriber: Aristeu Soares Reviewer: Aijia Yang
We are made of Lego.
Yep, Lego.
What do I mean by Lego?
I’m sure all of you have played with Legos before.
And you should know that Lego bricks come in all shapes and sizes.
Each with different holes, fittings and requirements.
You have probably used Lego before to build structures, buildings or homes.
The thing is, we are all witnessing Lego all around us.
And in yourself and myself too.
This particular Lego I’m referring to is called carbon.
We are all made of carbon.
But it's not just us that this element gives our lives meaning.
Many things around us or in our environment are made from carbon
or derived from materials that couldn't be possible without carbon.
With such immense application and pertinence in our lives,
surely this must be a hot field of study.
Indeed, the study of carbon compounds is also known as organic chemistry.
Chemistry is often known as the central science.
And as a branch of it is often termed the study of the chemistry of life,
What makes us, and what makes things the way in life, the way they are.
Now, a common fear strouds the study of organic chemistry.
Most universities and high schools offer this course,
but it isn't very well received.
Plagued with heavy content and demanding memorization of facts.
Organic chemistry seems too dry to be organic.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
I happen to love this subject and I think this misconception is harmful.
Not as for our grades but for society as well.
I believe that organic chemistry can be fun, important,
and most significantly impactful.
Now a bit of history before we proceed.
Organic chemistry didn't really start until a few centuries ago,
But a few millenniums back in Aristotle’s time.
He sort of had the idea.
They believed there were a few elements in the world.
Fire, water, earth and air.
But even Aristotle synthesised diethyl ether accidentally
as he poured sulfuric acid into ethanol.
Then came the age of the phlogiston theory,
which detailed the existence of a fire like element called phlogiston,
contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion.
Finally, organic chemistry was born when the vitalism theory was disproved,
which stated that organic compounds were godsent
and could not be made from inorganic materials which did not contain life.
But today I want to share with you something truly exciting.
I’m actually really happy that we’re alive now
because we live in an age where everything has just begun.
And this includes advancements in this field.
With the potential to completely change our lives,
we owe this all to carbon and the study of it.
Carbon is a simple molecule and an alien from outer space
might dismiss this element as another
unassuming, unreactive element like the noble gases.
But we, and the organic chemists obviously know better.
With his ability to form four strong bonds
to a great number of other important elements,
it can form chains, branches, rings, bridges,
and many other structures that would make even Buckminster Fuller blush.
It can bond to itself and other elements.
And its favorite bodies include oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen.
It breaks and forms its bonds. It exchanges partners readily.
It loses electrons and it gains electrons through its structure.
And it has a whole repertoire of reactions that is not seen in any other element.
Although carbon is only the 15th most abundant element
in the Earth’s crust, there are almost 10 million compounds described to date.
You can even just Kimo spamming a single unit of that carbon compound,
and you can get a whole giant macro molecule also known as a polymer.
What shirt are you wearing right now? The viewing audience.
Actually, it doesn't matter.
It's probably made of polyester or cotton or both.
You can owe the strong ringchord and pure resistant fibers and fabrics,
to the careful and thoughtful work of organic chemists who discovered
you could take a Diacid and combine it with a Diol, or Dialcohol.
What molecules keep you alive every day so you can watch this video?
I'm talking about the biomolecules, whether they are lipids, proteins,
carbohydrates, steroids or waxes.
They are all formed from the same elements to start in organic chemistry,
with carbons serving as the parent of all of them.
What about DNA? Amino acids? Hormones or vitamins?
The same applies. Without these, we won’t be alive.
But being alive and just knowing these exist, isn’t very productive either.
Research into biochemistry has managed to improve our standard of living
by leaps and bounds.
And biochemistry is so closely associated with the organic chemistry,
than many have associated it as a branch of the latter.
If you lived a century ago and you happened to get picked by a thorn,
you could unwilst be listening to what I say from the shadow realm.
Penicillin is one of the most important antibiotics the world has ever known,
increasing life expectancies and quality of life dramatically and enabling
the modern day to be realised.
It's a simple structure with two rings and just made of five elements.
But this simple molecule won its discoverers a Nobel Prize,
and saved countless lives as World War Two raged on,
and continues to save lives from bacteria till this very day.
As developments hurtled forward,
its chemical structure was elucidated through X-ray crystallography,
and a reliable total synthesis was mapped out.
And tried and tested for mass production,
which explains why most of us aren’t really concerned with bacteria nowadays.
Organic chemistry has been instrumental in synthesizing natural compounds,
which are vital towards making molecules that make up our lives.
Such as plastics, materials, drugs, pharmaceuticals, food and fertilizers.
It is the spirit of curiosity, adventurousness and ingenuity,
which spurs the organic chemist to notice problems in human society,
come up with a solution, hunt for the miracle molecule,
analyse it and unravel its secrets.
And make it a possibility for everyone in the future.
You are already a skilled organic chemist.
As you watch the screen of whichever device you are on,
your eyes contain an organic compound, known as retinal,
to convert visible light into electrical impulses.
So that your brain could perceive all that you knew
or didn’t know about the subject.
Your brain contains millions of neurotransmitter amines,
so that your brain function as it should be.
But you may not be aware.
That is okay, because that’s how all organic chemists started.
The thing is, why not embrace and love this subject?
For it has so many applications in our daily lives
and is so commonplace that we don’t even realize it.
We are made of organic chemistry and so is our future.
The future of organic chemistry is bright.
I dare to say, for both the common layman and those specializing in the field.
The next time you buy some green bananas, you hope to ripen as fast as possible.
Why not add a riped apple, to release ethylene gas
to catalyze chemical reactions to achieve the ideal?
The next time you find yourself out of breath,
suffering from cardiac rhythm, disruption or asthma.
Why don’t you find out the reason you inject yourself with epinephrine?
And it’s not just your problems.
Organic chemistry is not static. It is dynamic.
Just because a problem has been solved, doesn’t mean it’s gone.
Bacteria have gained resistance to antibiotics.
Plastics have been criticized for environmental degradation.
Some T-shirts irritate skin, and cancer continues to ravage humanity.
Fear not, because organic chemistry is here to stay.
With developments in communication, technology and equipment.
Other antibiotics have been shown to be effective, like ampicillin.
Biodegradable plastics and T-shirts on nascent but promising.
And cancer can be beaten into remission with a cocktail of drugs.
Organic chemistry has even found its way to computer science,
with artificial intelligence taking over the helm of once laborious
but necessary occupations.
Such as protein folding predictions,
and the best and most effective total synthesis pathways,
through machine learning and appropriate algorithm programming.
Lego means play well.
Isn’t life, and the study of compounds that make up it, also just a play?
The question is, whether we want to play this game well,
and create the best possible adventure ever.
To change lives, to make someone’s tomorrow better.
To create lasting tangible impacts.
I am excited. I truly am.
Will you join me? Thank you.