In the first section of this page, you will write a daily summary of that day's class.  For example in  your chapter 2 blog, your first entry should be titled 9/3/10.  You should then write a one or two paragraph summary of that day's lecture, outlining the major points.  In the second section, you are required to add two items (link to a website, video, animation, student-created slide show, student-created PowerPoint presentation) and one journal article pertaining to a topic in this chapter.  A one-paragraph summary must accompany each item describing the main idea and how it applies to the lecture topic.  Please see the PBWorks help guide for assistance embedding video and other items directly in the page.  I will also produce a how-to video on using tables to wrap text around items and other useful tips.  Please see the syllabus for organization and grading details.

A.  Daily Blog

9/10/10: We talked about carbon and why it's so great for making biological molecules. Basically, it was "biological organic chemistry 101". We went over the functional groups and what they do: hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl (and ketones and aldehydes), and many others. Then, we passed through isomers, spending some time on the magical differences between Ds and Ls. We touched on thalidomide, and how that was caused by the varied biological activity of enatiomers. Finally, we talked about how to stick together molecules (like sugars) and how to pull them apart. It's done with water; you take water out to get them to stick together, and put it back in to take them apart. Glucose molecules also cross-link in several different ways to form macromolecules with completely different properties! Sweet lecture, man. (Had to do it.)  

B.  Useful Materials

More in-depth information about functional groups; http://www.chemistry-drills.com/functional-groups.php?q=simple

Wikipedia likes to go very in-depth about everything, including beta-glucans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-glucan
An article about how thermomechanical properties are affected by glucose crosslinking in certain polymers: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/app.28489/abstract