O-chem geekiness. Menthene is the stuff in mint (my plant that is still somehow struggling on. If it recovers then I'll have a virus-resistant plant, which would be cool, if it doesn't I'll have a dead plant, which wouldn't be cool but would definitely but something that is likely to happen in life my that was a long tangent) and now, while doing practice problems for o-chem, I encounter the following question:
3.46
Menthene, a hydrocarbon found in mint plants, has the IUPAC name 1-isopropyl-4-methylcyclohexene. What is the structure of methene?
So of course, I drew out menthene, checked online since the book doesn't supply the answers (click here for answer if you're curious), got it right, and then realized what I just did.
First reaction: Awesome.
Second reaction: Oh my god.
Third reaction: Oh the geekiness.
On the other hand, I think I'm beginning to grasp the fundamentals of o-chem.
[edit 21:04]
Apparently limonene (yep, the oil in citrus that makes it smell nice) is only one double bound and one chemical rotation away from menthene. I'm not obsessed. Honest.
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