Author page: Andy Brunning

Chemical Structures of Neurotransmitters

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A bit of a chemistry/biology tie in today with a series of posters looking at the chemical structures of some of the main neurotransmitters in the brain. I’ve also included a little information on the main effects and roles of each underneath the structures – however, I’d hasten to add that, since this is definitely more an area of interest than an area of expertise for me, I’ve kept it pretty general.

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Aromatic Chemistry Reactions Map

Aromatic Functional Group Interconversions 2015
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To complement the the Organic Reaction Map posted a week or so ago, here’s a reaction map looking at reactions that allow you to vary the substituents on a benzene ring. This was a far larger undertaking than expected; the bulk of the work on the organic reaction map was done in the space of a day, whereas this one is probably pushing towards three days – suffice to say that there were a lot of reactions that could’ve been included!

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The Chemical Elements of a Smartphone

Infographic showing the elements used in the components of different parts of a phone. Full details are provided in the text below.
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There are an isolated few graphics online that look at elements involved in the manufacture of a smartphone – for example, this ‘Periodic Table of iPhones’ – but there’s remarkably little easily accessible information out there that details the specific compounds used for specific purposes in mobile phones. This probably isn’t surprising since these details are probably kept under the lock and key of patent laws and the like; however, I tried my best with this graphic to provide a little more detail about specific uses, an undertaking that took a lot more effort than I initially expected!

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