bottleneck...

The life of being a UROPS (research) student and student is tough...

UROPS by itself is fun..
I alwaz said that to all my frenz..
It's like experiment without lab manual and senior reports..
Full of uncertainties...

U get to think for urself and design ur own reactions..
U r very clear of what u r doing in UROPS..
Unlike normal lab session whr u juz follow evrything in lab manual..
without much understanding.. at least that's what i usually do.. lolz..

U r free to use all dangerous and hazardous chemicals and instruments in the lab..
instruments like Infra-Red spectroscopy, UV-vis sepctroscopy, NMR machine etc etc..
chemicals like aqua regia, conc acids, liquid nitrogen etc etc...
These are the big no no in normal labs, even at uni level...

minor explosions are quite common in lab..
evrything is done in fume hood..
I learn how to see molecules in molecular language (signals, chemical shifts)..
Then from there we can translate it into what the molecules look like in text books..

My research project is on surface functionalization of nanoparticles...
basically it's to functionalize the surfactants attached onto the nanoparticles..
to make useful things.. or attached to a bio-molecules..
and then carry into human cell for some intracellular reactions..

but said is alwaz easier than done..
i m running out of idea as to how to functionalize my NP.. ~bottleneck
the outcome of lab results does not alwaz go in accordance with the theory..
U predict this and that, it gives u something else..

So chemical reaction looks so simple..
but it can be very hard to control, for instance, thionyl chloride (SOCl2)
No point explaining too many technical stuff here..
But juz to let u all know what i m doing now..

Life is so busy until i dont hv much time now..
evryday got morning lecture 8-10, then either 2-4pm or 4-6pm..
then rest of the time spend in lab...
at night, either think of what to do in the next day's lab or study...

The cycle repeats...

This does not mean i don't like research anymore..
I do.. but it's simply too exhausting hving to go lab n go lectures evryday..
after squeezing dry ur brain then go lecture n fill up with all new knowledge isn't fun..
I feel physically and mentally tired evry day... 8am-6pm..

To make things worse..
i do not hv the sufficient knowledge on the lab techniques and knowledge on chemistry..
picking up a lot along the way though...
so sometimes it's very discouraging...

This is only the end of week 2..
In NUS, things start to get out of hand in week 5 & 6 ONWARDS...
Hope i can survive then.. lolz..
13 more weeks until my final exam again..