Carvone (Spearmint) - Periodic Table of Videos

[TheCaphits]

Tartaric acid FTW.

I WAS gonna ask if they were optical isomers or not. You answered my question.

[roar9998]

Organic Chemistry exam partly about stereoisomers this coming Friday. :D Thank you for the demo!

[fritspas]

So that's why my left hand smells different than my right hand.

[Greeblimus]

One in ten people can't tell the difference between the two enantiomers of Carvone when they smell them, apparently. We tested that in our A-level class at my 6th form college when we looked at chiral molecules.

[MrNightcraft]

1:31

Un-intentional awkward turtle...

[jolamarog]

1st Chemistry exam on Monday...great to get be able to get a visual example of the course material!

[Bigwebwasher]

@periodicvideos Just a question: the two hydrogen-atoms highlighted at 1:50 - do they really cause the chirality? I mean the left one is in a methyl-group, it can rotate. Is the correct H-atom not the one "behind" it? the one which also lies on the table... correct me of i'm wring

[PandaMagicFTW]

Omg thats so cool lol

[iwillflagurvids]

Finding true spearmint is nearly impossible, and now I know there is a chemical difference between species.

[gabryhyrule007]

Wow, brilliant demonstration of enantiomerism! Will definitely remember that!

[butchersgreat]

flippin' heck he's right about the hand thing! checked it and he's spot on!

[KilgothMirna]

God, I hate chirality... You have to take care of every tiny detail. One more reason for me not to choose organic chemistry. Inorganic all the way!

[Shakamuni]

@KilgothMirna But you will also find chirality in inorganic compounds!!!

[Legofan78]

I have a USB smell '0' vision!

[kawana87]

Man, I wish I understood half of what you guys talk about in these video's, but almost all of it goes over my head lol. I just watch them for the visual experiments you do.

[Blackdragon595]

I remember studying enantiomers, chiral centers and everything in sixth form, it always amazed me, especilly that each enantiomer rotated polarised light.

[Scrap5000]

Wait a minute, why is the Professor not in this video??!! That makes me sad...

[denChemiker]

Excellent video! I love the series, but I've got to point out, the editor highlighted the wrong proton when showing the chirality of the further carbon. (They highlighted the methyl proton para to the chiral proton)

[JkAc9597]

Did anyone else think of "awkward turtle" when he put his hands on top of each other and moved his thumbs? xD

[DarkeWolfie]

Science is my favourit subject (Im in highschool)

[AndyKong51]

Any updated video in atomic level of how light is polarized within the molecule? Thx.

[nehorlavazapalka]

How can one synthetise only one enantiomer? Or better put, how can you choose the right orientated precursors?

[WilsonUtube123]

Gracias! Me gustó mucho su video :)

Saludos desde Sonora, México

[douro20]

You'll see these enantiomers in literature as S-(+)-carvone and R-(-)-carvone.

[theMilkz]

i've never actually seen the (+) and (-) of optical function so far though. does it have any significant uses like identifying compounds? like, is it really used?

[douro20]

It is used when two molecules are stereoisomers of each other.

[4jonah]

cool. Im familiar with this actually because of the biophysicist Luca Turin. He talks a great deal about these.

[chumchumthegreat]

Here's another example,

LSD (the drug, sometimes called "acid") in it's "mirrored" loses it's hallucinogenic effect.

[t3hAlien]

Is that 2-bromo-LSD? I remember there being a terrific Nat Geo (?) documentary about that.

[jpthecreaton]

that has got to apply as to why life selects carbon 13, right?

[MichaelKingsfordGray]

No.

[Wonin6billion]

Guys... excellent excellent vids, been watching right from the beggining. just loving the explanations, always coming from a passionate angle, 'easy' to connect with and therefore easier to translate to my 'emmerdale farm' loved ones. They are starting to get it too! thanks!

[princessmanner1]

Neat!

[cxeazn]

Awkward turtle at 1:38!

[stillhuman]

science is awesome.

[periodicvideos]

@stillhuman: cheers... you'd probably also like our channel @sixtysymbols where we do all this but for physics and astronomy!

[mussedeq]

@periodicvideos What if you mix the two and put a polarizing lens over it?

[Asperger1993]

@mussedeq The polarised light will be unaffected by a mixture.

[TomatoBreadOrgasm]

@Asperger1993

That's assuming that the mixture is racemic. You can get a polarizing mixture, for example by heating 1,3-dimethyl-3-chloro-pentane in water, in which there is some stereoselectivity due to the diffusion rate of the chloride leaving group. That's why we distinguish between an enantiomer being "dextro" or "levorotatory" and an "optically active" mixture that polarizes in one direction or another.

[Orcinus24x5]

What happens if you were to mix these two liquids together? Would the polarization be randomized again? would the liquids become opaque?

[bubblesthenerd]

@Orcinus24x5 It would be called a racemic mixture (50% of each stereoisomer), where light is not plane polarized, as the two polarizations cancel eachother out, so they would not block the light at all.

[jacoman1234567]

What you'd get if you mix them 1 on 1 is a so called racemic mixture. With equal amounts the liquid becomes optically inactive. (the rotations cancel eachother out).

[theway1990]

@Orcinus24x5 optically inactive, but not become opaque.

[miraenna]

Cool! Makes me wonder how smell oriented animals "see" the world...

[drokles]

:O...

O_O How in the world does a fluid polarize light?

[dudomaniac]

The fluid doesn't do that. There was a polarizing filter below the vials as well. What the liquids do is rotate the orientation of the polarized light in a different direction. This is what causes the light to darken when the upper filter is rotated.

[drokles]

Ah.. That makes a lot more sense. Thanks.

[jedisoul]

damn organic chemistry revisited

[emb6150]

You make chemistry very interesting! :-)

A Physicist.

[woodpod]

It would be cool if someone worked out a way to chemically engineer poop so it smells nice. :)

[big000kory]

DNA IS A LEFT HANDED HELIX

[theburninator88]

so what happens if DNA is a right handed spiral???

[big000kory]

it's wrong i dont think it occurs in nature but it can be made in a lab alot of normal dna enzymes wont work on it

[big000kory]

DNA IS A LEFT HANDED HELIX

[sajibaby1]

Nicely done....

Actually seeing the difference is so cool...

Is this procedure used for determining which one's R and S?

[johnmacward]

Whas his name anyone?

[IWantLandingSnow]

We need Smell-o-vision.

[Intervene]

interesting thx.

[omegacds]

I didn't like him at first, but he grew on me.

Great explanation thanks.

[leatherman7553]

you need "scratch n sniff" software

[Paxmax]

oooh cooool!

[qwAirGear]

Though this video was awesome, I'm wishing there were computer peripherals accessible to the consumer that would give us the smells also. Admittedly, I'm betting most of the videos on this channel would be without smell tracks in that case; some of the reactions/chemicals probably aren't too pleasant on the nose...

[Crowbarazar]

I'm pretty sure that, even if technology gets to the point that we're able to have real smell-o-vision, it'd still be against youtube's TOS to implement it in a video ever.

[qwAirGear]

They'd probably let a very, very small set of people use it and with good reason. Most people could not be trusted with that technology...

[Crowbarazar]

Yeah. Someone might utilize the scent of poop. That's exactly what you're probably thinking. Poop. In fact, many people would probably do that. Youtube would become Pooptube.  Can't have that.

[shahared1]

Did you know that Skatone (or C9H9N), a chemical found in human feces that creates a most horrible odor at high concentrations, is also used in artificial strawberry flavoring? It is also found in small amounts in things like flowers, orange blossoms, and jasmine.

So you may not be far off on what you could be smelling if "Smell-o-Vision" existed. Lets just hope it's the right concentration!

[solomsolomol]

You , Sir , are made of win !

i mean seriously , my hat goes off to you ;)

[fLowKnows]

Stereochemistry is great but some times the isomers get confusing.

[killer2611]

nice

[fugehdehyou]

loving the molecular videos keep up the good work fellas!

[ksoiree]

As spearmint has always been one of my favorite flavors, I've always been a big fan of carvone.

It's nice to know some more about this organic compound.

Also, the hand thing was a very good explanation, and helped to clear up some fuzziness.

[mrblisterfist]

Superb post.

thanks :)

[dylz]

wow, i had read about what chiral molecules do to plane polarized light a million times in textbooks but had never actually seen it! thank goodness for this video.

haha, in my organic chem lab we made carvones! i'm so bad at it, though, i would make a lousy organic chemist.

[GuppyPal]

enantiomers. I loved organic chemistry.

[silentelysium]

@GuppyPal

So do I! Amino acids all the way!

[culwin]

awesome

[intermission101]

I really liked the light-polarization demonstration. And it was a really good idea to put them side-by-side each other; that way, you can really see that they are polarizing light in opposite directions. Thanks for another great video!

[ftwelve12]

awesome

[macnutz]

wonderful, thanks for posting

[pepsibookcat]

New dude!

The hands/thumbs was a good layperson's intro to chirality.

Cool demonstration with the polarized light.

[TomMarAlem1987]

Isomers=Same chemical composition but different arrangement and look. Example: C6H12O6

C6H12O6=Glucose, Fructose but the way they look is different. One might be a straight line and the other a circle.

[liquids1987]

This is a great channel, I demand more videos !

[petercourt]

Been learning this in A level chemistry :) Had to learn the definition of a chrial carbon, and it involved 'reflecting plane polarised light' - great to see it actually happening!

[dicekar]

great vid

[ranndomness]

what is Caraway?

[Stormrunner0002]

@ranndomness

Caraway seeds - fall under spices and herbs.

Very good in breads and buns. Mmmmm.

[sorry8140]

good except 4 1 thing: enunciate

[godspeed28]

Awesome

[abcmsaj]

Incredible video. Thank you.

[woodchuck1022]

It's pretty cool that they polarize light differently... I wonder if they are used in polarized lenses?

[solomsolomol]

they don't really polarize light , the filters beneath and on top of the 2 bottles did that , all they do is just change the orientation of the already-polarized light !

[lewiswenttotown]

that's basicly a massive part of my A-level sylabus....awsome

[abcmsaj]

same :)

[azninvasion217]

that. was. sick.

[taofledermaus]

My left hand smells different from my right hand. Now I know why!

[TheUndert0ker]

@taofledermaus is it your wiping hand? lol

[nickdan3]

LOL

[holsson85]

That was very cool how they have different optical properties! I never would have guest!

[johnmacward]

He's great, very explanatory.

[johnmacward]

"On YouTube, obviously I can't show you the smell of these two..."

Ya can, splash it at the camera and I'll sniff.

[SAOSIN987]

it's always great to learn something new.

[BirdValiant]

I like this guy's accent. :-)

[johnmacward]

He's a Dub, an Irish Dub.

[BobCassidy]

Cheers for that. Could have sworn he was a Californian Dub.

[johnmacward]

Sherrup, twas for the people what didn't know what Dub meant.

[muhkuh77]

Carvone doesn't smell like Spearmint - Spearmint smells like Carvone ;). Same with Limonene ...

My lab attendance told me this last summer with a grim view

But very good video indeed !

[iStormUK]

So Carvone is an example of a handed molecule presumably? Many chemicals seem to have a left or a right handed configuration, perhaps you can do a video on why this is significant?

[1RadicalOne]

I wish I knew that these smells smelled like so as to have a frame of reference.

[Gerafix]

Wow, have you never cooked before?! (KD and canned soup isn't cooking).

[1RadicalOne]

No, my equivalent of a sense of smell does not respond to chemicals such as these.

(I also lightly resent your automatic assumption that I eat (and it is implied exclusively) garbage like instant macaroni. I am in fact, by diet and by biochemistry, a carnivore.)

[HansTheAtheist]

I've heard that this is a method to detect life on extrasolar planets, but I've never understood how someone could detect that, it seems from this experiment that you need polarized light to start with, shining through the atmosphere of a planet... (the experiment uses two filters, right?) Can someone explain this to me?

[solomsolomol]

i don't really know but i'm gonna brain-storm anyway !

all what stereo isomers do is rotate the already polarized light , the second filter in this video (the one on top) was put to show just that , but that doesn't mean that the light hadn't already changed polarization , it did but you just don't see until you put the second filter !

so all you have to do is to send a beam of polarized light into a planet then test the reflected light for changes in polarization

[solomsolomol]

sorry word limit !

if there were changes in the polarization of reflected light then this would mean that stereo isomers exist on that planet , and as stereo isomers are complex molecules then there would be a very good chance of the existence of complicated live forms !

[HansTheAtheist]

Thanks for the reply. They were talking about observing life by measuring a rotation in the light coming from a star far away that passed through the atmosphere. Sending a laser beam would be impractical in that case. The idea I developed over the past days is a combination of a double slit experiment and polarizing filters.. I don't know enough to be sure, but maybe it could cause a change in the interference pattern when a planet passes in front of the star..

[Itslvle]

You can try checking an article called "Detection of circular polarization in light scattered from photosynthetic microbes" (you can find it on google and read the whole thing for free). I couldn't quite figure out the details myself though I did look up some info on circular polarization as well. The article itself speaks fairly little of the basic physics behind it.

Maybe you'll have better luck.

[HansTheAtheist]

Thanks Itslvle, that's quite an interesting article. This quote was stunning: "Jupiters moon Europa is strongly suspected to host a liquid water ocean (12), and infrared spectroscopic features have been shown to be consistent with those of radiation tolerant microbes (13)." So many clues, but so little proof (so far)...

[seahawk124]

What a simply, yet fascinating video.

[KyuubiNaruto1337XD]

so just because they are mirrored of each other, makes them smell differently?

I know molecular shape determines properties but I have never studied one so simple and yet so complex

[murderousrage]

yeah, because a fragrant molecule has to fit into the binding site of receptors in the nose. like how the left hand doesn't fit well on a right handed glove, only one of the mirror image molecules will trigger a particular receptor that it fits into. the other mirror image molecule triggers a different smell receptor entirely.

[Itslvle]

In basic chemistry it doesn't really matter which "mirror version" of a molecule you use, but in biochemistry, i.e. in all living things, it makes a huge difference.

[redone632]

Wasn't there a video about Spearmint before?

[wafflethug]

haha, for a minute there, I thought he was saying carbon with a french accent, carvone. Then I saw the title

[iheartrainbows88]

@wafflethug lol

[xlrv1]

Didn't sound the least bit French.

[Pikapizza]

Wait.. what if dna was the other way around then?

[kurtilein3]

pikapizza:

it would be incompatible with all life on earth, meaning that its useless. on a different planet, if there is life, its DNA could be the other way around.

[Gerafix]

Assuming it had DNA!

[lydz121]

optical isomers..

muhahhaha

this is amazing :D

[jacoman1234567]

Highlighted wrong hydrogen there, nice vid though :)

[periodicvideos]

@jacoman1234567: Quite right... Brady's fault!

[jacoman1234567]

No problemo :)

[KutaPuta]

I do educational vids also.

It is a bit of a pain

especaly when your doing a video of some thing you have NO idea what the teacher is talking about.

[periodicvideos]

@KutaPuta: Ha ha... I make sure I understand before I leave... that is why I spend HOURS with quantum physicists for the @sixtysymbols videos! :)

I knew the correct hydrogen... Was just careless and rushed, which is even more embarrassing!

[KutaPuta]

well if you understand all of the the chem videos and the sixtysymbols and have time to edit and reply to all the coments your a better man than me mate!

Especaly if Quantum mechanics videos

[seanbrockest]

Most interesting molecule so far!

[prisoner1138]

Excellent, I was hoping you guys would start to do videos about molecules once the periodic table came to an end.

[Kargoneth]

I don't think I've seen this instructor before... (well... I don't recall seeing him before)

[Kargoneth]

I hate mint... overpowers my nose, even in small amounts... which is why I loathe toothpaste

[MSI2k]

neatly explained!

[neki2bezveze]

drink it

[Bimm3rcc]

Very nice and informative, also for the university students :D

[jessemaurais]

I drink spearmint tea. Am I drinking Carvone?

[x42brown]

A new face?

[periodicvideos]

@x42brown: It's Dr Darren Walsh...

He's got some pretty cool ideas and stuff he wants to show us, so keep an eye out!

[GetMeThere1]

Ha! Really liked the polarizer demo. It's one thing to read it in a textbook, but another to see the demo.

What I would have liked to hear about: What changes can (or must not) one make in such a molecule such that the smell changes or stays the same? Surely this must have been investigated with such a well-known molecule as spearmint. Indeed, aren't there food additive chemists whose only job is such investigation?

[superdau]

A way more important area, where such research is done, are pharmaceuticals. One chemical bond changed can be the difference between effective medicine and poison. Speaking of Enantiomeres: often just one of the two forms is effective, while the other one causes side effects. Think of it in lock-and-key terms: one molecule activates a receptor on a cell, change one "tooth" and it wont "open" the anything or even worse activate something you don't want to. It's the same with smell.

[GetMeThere1]

@superdau

Yeah, thanks, I know all that. I was particularly interested in the issue of smell vs molecular structure. As I understand it, much of that issue is still a complete mystery.

[humanentropy]

@GetMeThere1 Im pretty sure the smell receptors are structured differently. The active sites of these receptors would be structured slightly differently to elicit different responses for slightly different chemicals.

[Itslvle]

I'm not sure this is what you're looking for, but I'll add to the general info on how smell works.

We have around 1000 smell receptors, but can smell 10 000 different smells.

This is because each of our smell receptors can bind with many different molecules, and a particular smell is always a certain pattern of activated receptors.

So smell #1 might activate receptors A,B,C,D while smell #2 would activate A,B,C,E,F for example.

[Itslvle]

Maybe I should clarify here: what I meant was we have a thousand different types of smell receptors.

That's actually 3% of our total number of genes.

[P00P0STER0US]

Fascinating!

[TeoTheAwesome]

really interesting!

[ginogrz]

great example of enantiomers. keep up the great videos.