A Glimpse of Chemistry's Past - Cao Judong

Today, while reviewing vocabulary, the name of this person suddenly popped up in my mind. It seems that in this lovely spring season, which is perfect for jumping off a building, nostalgia is still the most suitable emotion haha. Cao Jdong is a very smart old man:) He belongs to the type of old naughty boy, hehe. I used to love listening to his classes, his organic chemistry lectures were very good and vivid (and also very fast:( ).

So, I googled him and found blogs written by younger generations, as well as many classic stories, hehe, many of which he had told us before.

Alas, I’m no longer studying chemistry now… crying… In China, stupid people don’t have many opportunities to choose their own future… hmm, I’m very stupid…

—The following is a repost

I actually knew that Cao Jdong had a habit of reading other people’s blogs. I searched for him on Baidu, and this blog post of mine was the first result.. hehe, I’m impressed by this alumnus.

Cao Jdong is a professor in the Chemistry Department of Beijing Normal University, a member of the Ministry of Education’s guidance group for organic chemistry and polymer professionals, a member of the Chinese Chemical Society’s Organic Chemistry Committee, deputy director of the Chinese Chemical Society’s Chemical Education Committee, and a member of the Chinese Chemical Society. His mentor was Xing Qiyi, and he participated in the artificial synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin.

His classes were particularly fun,

His course materials and welcome pages all had very long passwords, and they were all the same. I wonder if it’s related to the phrase “cjdstxdy” (meaning “Cao Jdong is the best in the world”), but I have no way to verify this.

“What is a chemical bond? A chemical bond is like electronic glue. A lone pair of electrons is like 502 (a type of glue). Suppose I put 502 on my hand and slapped it on someone’s butt, that’s a bond. The strength of the bond depends on the quality of the glue, which is the ability to donate electrons, and also on the surface it’s applied to, which is the ability to accept electrons…” He explained chemical bonds in a humorous and concise way.

He often told us stories.

For example, when talking about the Beckmann rearrangement, he mentioned: “Carothers from DuPont synthesized nylon 6 in 1935, made a fortune from it, but he was so focused on making money that he neglected academic research. A German scientist (whose name I forgot) then came along and unified the theory of high polymers, winning the Nobel Prize. Carothers was so angry, saying ‘I invented it, why did you get the Nobel Prize?’ and then he jumped off a building… without taking the elevator.”

He also talked about learning,

He particularly disliked it when people said “inventing this or that”, because he said: “Can a child in college who hasn’t even learned that yet invent something?! It’s all done by teachers or parents, and then attributed to the students. There are geniuses, of course, one in 10,000 people, but if 200 out of 10,000 people are geniuses, that’s just nonsense. I still support academic competitions, because they teach you how to learn. You need to internalize your knowledge, make your books thinner and your notes shorter. If your books get thicker and thicker, that’s not science research at all. There are so many organic reactions, you can’t just memorize them one by one. You need to understand the principles, so that when you understand one reaction, you can understand hundreds of others.”

He also said,

In 1999, several doctoral students from the Chinese Academy of Sciences put CCl4 and metallic sodium in a large iron pot, closed the lid, and tightened the screws. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and when they opened the lid, what came out was a diamond!! This is an application of the Wurtz reaction. That’s what I call real learning. Those who just memorize formulas might get good grades, but they lack creativity and don’t know how to learn.

The Dieckmann condensation reaction, Stobb reaction, and Darzen reaction are all similar. He also asked, “Do you know how cranes grow taller?” One time, I saw a tower crane growing taller on the side of the road, and I thought, “Isn’t that just like the Darzen reaction?” haha.

Actually, organic chemistry is quite interesting, and it has attracted many people. For example, Kekule, who initially studied architecture, was inspired by Liebig’s lectures and decided to study organic chemistry instead. Liebig’s students included Hofmann, Wurtz, and Butlerov, and Butlerov’s students included Markovnikov and Saytzeff. It’s a big family. Maybe studying pharmacology isn’t a bad idea either.

When talking about the Lindlar catalyst, he said that pyridine smells terrible, and the palladium was so pungent that it made him dizzy. haha. He also drew a little person when explaining the boat and chair conformations. haha.

The person who synthesized skatole was Fischer, and Cao Jdong said that when Xing Qiyi lectured, he would often forget things. He would look at us, and we would have to remind him, “Methyl, hydrogen…” or else he would scold us after class, “What’s wrong with you, don’t you even know that?!” But when it came to Fischer, he never forgot. Fischer synthesized over 150 types of sugars, and sugar synthesis is particularly difficult. The president of the chemical society once told him, after getting drunk, “I didn’t accomplish anything during my time in Germany…”