After a thrid time, I finally understood the problem on myrcene and dihydromyrcene at the end of chapter 8.  The isoprene rule became clear some thirtyfour years later. 

I thought about the crammers and the dynamic duo of organic chemistry (Mark Guzzo and Jim Smith), and I finally realized that when they crammed and did as little work as possible in high school, they had to learn the concepts and ignore the details.  Obviously this training served them well later on when organic chemistry became the topic.

I now wonder whether I had the same problem with mathematics (memorizing everything does not work at this level).  There had to be a reason I scored in the 99th percentile when I started high school!

Fri 15 Oct 10

Analysis of the missed isoprene and its rule in Morrision and Boyd revealed that isopentenyl pyrophosphate builds along the isoprene rule from geranyl pyrophosphate into farnesyl pyrophosphate into squalene.  It also suggests how phosphate and pyrophosphate take part in biogenesis.  It all falls into place biochemically.

Earlier this week I finally understood myrcene, dihydromyrcene, and the role that isoprene plays in predicting the possible structures from ozonalysis and potassium permanganate.  Permanganate will oxidize a double bond at the terminal carbon into a carboxylic acid, if not carbon dioxide.