Colloidal silver! ("Valerian" is moved). Romeo and Juliet - bonus post

Sv: CAPULET: Allt vad vi ordnat för en glädjens fest
Förvandlas nu i sorgens svarta ståt:
Vårt strängaspel till klockors dova ringning,
Vårt bröllopsbord till dystert gravölsgille,
Vår jubelsång till hemska klagopsalmer,
Och brudens krona till en krans på kistan.
Allt, allt förvandlas till sin motsats nu.

LORENZO: Gå, ädle herre! – Min grevinna, gå!
Ni ock, greve Paris! Alla sig berede
Att följa detta sköna lik till graven. –
Ni himlens vrede väckt med syndigt dåd,
Försonen den med lydnad för hans råd! 

W. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1595)

Valerian

How I wish more people knew about valerian's healing effects. Every person should have this at home, and you should take it several times a week when you feel sad. It's very normal. Necessary. This is the chemistry behind valerian herbal remedies:

Vad jag önskar att fler kända till valerianas läkande effekter. Denna borde varje person ha hemma, och man bör inta flera gånger i veckan när man känner sig ledsen. Det är mycket normalt. Nödvändigt. Det här är kemin bakom valeriana naturläkemedel:

╔════════════════╗
 Summer post -25: Valerian
╚════════════════╝
Partially reposted.

Welcome to reading about alternative medicine (or, I can only wish, another braingasm?). Valerian contains many different chemical compounds that interact and provide a sense of calm and tranquility to the person. Valeric acid/pentanoic acid, C4H9COOH, is one of them. It is a carboxylic acid where the backbone is 5 carbon atoms long. This does not occur in a cyclic variant, as the entire carboxyl group, -COOH, also needs to fit. For a cyclic variation, the backbone should preferably be at least 6 carbon atoms long. The carboxyl group is a functional group (a set of connected atoms that gives a molecule its properties) that is useful when, for example, amides or esters are to be formed. First, you have some amine, such as methylamine (CH3NH2) or dimethylamine ((CH3)2NH), and both can form an amide in the next step when the hydrogens on the nitrogen, N, react with a carboxylic acid, for example. The remainder is usually denoted as 'R', and the reaction is: R-COOH + (CH3)2NH → R-CON(CH3)2 + H2O.

Above we thus got an amide ("R" is not defined) and water. How is the carboxyl group useful when esters are to be formed, e.g., ethyl acetate? CH3COOH + C2H5OH ⇄ (H2SO4) → CH3COOCH2CH3 + H2O. So, in this reaction, sulfuric acid was used as a catalyst (accelerating agent). It is diprotic and releases hydrogen ions, H^+, in two steps, and the mechanism for this from this strong acid, which can dissolve, for example, base metals, is that first a proton is transferred to the oxygen in the carbonyl group, C=O. And now the carbonyl oxygen forms an oxonium ion, C=OH^+, and the double bond in the carbonyl group, C=O, is significantly weakened. Now the carbonyl carbon is more susceptible to a nucleophilic attack. Alcohol is a nucleophile (nucleus lover attracted to positive charge) because it seeks a place where it can donate its electrons. Thus, one gets the functional group for esters, -COO-R, and something else that characterizes esters is a very fruity scent.

However, valerian is not characterized by a good scent until it has been mixed with alcohol and become a favored ester. It can then be used in, for example, perfume. Insects in the wild use esters of valerian that are produced in glands, and females release scent particles known as pheromones. For example, a male moth's challenge is to successfully follow the scent detected by its antennae, in hopes of finding a female and mating with her. Methyl pentanoate, CH3OCO(CH2)4CH3, is part of the pheromones, and how to get this: CH3(CH2)3COOH + CH3OH (methanol) → CH3(CH2)3COOCH3 (methylpentanoate ester) + H2O. Very small amounts of different alcohols are produced in insects to enable them to get the necessary pheromones. Methanol resembles ordinary alcohol in smell and taste, but is lethally toxic. Your blood pH level becomes dangerously low (metabolic acidosis, acidic) due to newly formed formic acid, HCOOH.

Your treatment will then include intravenously administering ethanol so that the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which acts in the liver, preferentially breaks down ethanol rather than methanol. But now we will talk about rancid fats. There we find the unprocessed form of valeric acid. There is a breakdown of lipids (fats and fat-like molecules). Soap molecules, for example, are fatty acids, where there is a round hydrophilic 'head', which contains the carboxyl group, COOH. The head is water-loving because -COO^- can form ion-dipole bonds. with the water, and there is a strong bond where the water is the dipole (has a positive and negative end) and where the carboxylate ion, -COO^-, is the ion, and then there is attraction. The carbon chain, on the other hand, is straight and hides as soon as it can inside grease spots that need to be removed, and the more you wash, the more fat/soil is surrounded, and eventually "lifted" away from the garment you are washing. Like dissolves like when it comes to fat. There are 2 non-polar (without charges) carbon chains involved in both cases.

The whole disappears with the rinse water. But how are 2 carbon chains attracted to each other so that it happens? In fact, there are ways for this phenomenon where like attracts like! Van der Waals, for example, when two n-alkanes, with different numbers of carbons in the skeleton, experience temporary dipole-dipole forces. The electron clouds of both are then temporarily unevenly distributed/are condensed, and the positive and negative halves are suddenly attracted by a weak electric force → Van der Waals. The more such interactions occur (the longer the chains are), the harder they are bound to each other. However, the stable dipole-dipole interaction cannot occur because hydrocarbon chains are nonpolar (there is no permanent charge displacement). When two carbon chains 'dissolve into each other', they also cannot do this with hydrogen bonds. n-alkanes consist only of (C) and (H). Oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine are needed for hydrogen bonds. These intermolecular forces (between molecules) exist in, for example, water → free e^- on (O) attract (H) further away.

And so a brief explanation about a reaction concerning lipids (e.g., protection against cold, many hormones, vitamins, etc.). Plant oils, such as olive oil or rapeseed oil, are so fluid because there are bends in the carbon chain that arose due to the "missing hydrogens" on the carbon chain. Therefore, we find double bonds and bends at those spots instead. Molecules cannot be packed as tightly then, and the result is fluidity. Through fat hardening, new hydrogens (H) are added, so that the oil does not react with the environment as easily anymore, and therefore stays fresh longer (and is harder). Now we hopefully know more about lipids/fat molecules. But we can also look at the reaction that produces a short-chain fatty acid, Isovaleriansyra (an isomer (another variant) of valeric acid) CH3-CH(CH3)-CH2-COOH + other products. To obtain this, one must first have Leucine (an amino acid) C6H13NO2 + bacteria, inside cheese à which gives the smell of Emmental cheese! It is largely a simple compound.

The smell of Emmental cheese can also be found in the night moth due to the presence of isovaleric acid. This mentioned acid, as well as, for example, valepotriates and valeric acid contribute to various chemical processes so that higher levels of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) effectively remain in the brain and induce relaxation, resulting in a healthier individual. Since valepotriates can in some cases alkylate DNA (where a hydrocarbon group is chemically attached), aren’t concentrated tablets preferable? Perhaps, for example, calming valerian tea is best. One should also vary a bit with other natural remedies. GABA, which is so important, resembles an amino acid in structure (binding to both an amino group -NH2, and a carboxyl group -COOH), and can be purchased individually in powder form (to mix in water), with the purpose of, for example, curing depression. It is hyperactivity that decreases with valerian, in the area between nerve cells --> thus in the synapse. At the same time, GABA's effect is enhanced.