{"id":14515,"date":"2015-08-29T16:54:35","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T15:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=14515"},"modified":"2015-08-29T17:02:04","modified_gmt":"2015-08-29T16:02:04","slug":"a-tourist-trip-around-london-overground-with-a-chemical-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=14515","title":{"rendered":"A tourist trip around London Overground with a chemical theme."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"kcite-section\" kcite-section-id=\"14515\">\n<p>Most visitors to London use the famous <i>underground trains<\/i>\u00a0(the &#8220;tube&#8221;) or a<i>\u00a0double-decker bus<\/i> to see the city (one can also use rivers and canals).\u00a0So I thought, during the tourism month of August, I would show you an alternative <a href=\"https:\/\/tfl.gov.uk\/cdn\/static\/cms\/documents\/London-Overground-Network-map.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">overground<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Circumnavigation\" target=\"_blank\">circumnavigation<\/a> of the city using the metaphor of benzene.<\/p>\n<p>Benzene you see is a ring, comprising three\u00a0&#8220;HCCH&#8221; segments. The so-called Kekule vibration in benzene \u00a0(the b<sub>2u<\/sub> mode for anyone interested) induces three pairs of carbon atoms to repeatedly\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=12560\" target=\"_blank\">travel towards each other and then reverse and travel away from each other<\/a>. One can also travel in this manner using the London Overground train system. The three segments connect Clapham Junction (yes, more or less the same Clapham of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2012\/01\/daydreams-of-science-the-benzene-ouroboros-and-the-clapham-omnibus.html\" target=\"_blank\">Kekule&#8217;s omnibus<\/a>) to Willesden Junction. \u00a0A second segment goes from there to \u00a0Highbury and Islington, and a third from there on\u00a0to\u00a0Clapham again to complete the cycle in the clockwise direction. Since trains travel in both directions on each of the three segments, one can (like a carbon atom) oscillate to and fro in any segment, or (like an electron) circulate all the way round (no doubt either diatropic or paratropically with respect to the earth&#8217;s magnetic field). Yes, the metaphors are rather contrived; sorry but it is August after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here are some photos. The first is along the Clapham\/Willesden Junctions section, showing the new chemistry building at Imperial College in the early stages of construction. This will be part of the new White City campus about 5km west of the \u00a0original South Kensington one. The completed buildings on the right are residences, and the whole site used to be where BBC Enterprises first marketed its productions worldwide and not far from where the BBC television studios broadcast from until recently.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SB2WJ.jpg\" alt=\"Scheme\" width=\"440\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is at Clapham junction itself, platform 1 of 18.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/CJ.jpg\" alt=\"Scheme\" width=\"440\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is\u00a0also along this segment (Imperial&#8217;s very own station :-). Way out indeed!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IW.jpg\" alt=\"Scheme\" width=\"440\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the Thames finally, looking east. On the left is the very exclusive Chelsea harbour apartment complex, some of the most expensive in London. Residents commute by boat rather than train. In the distance somewhere are London and \u00a0Tower bridges.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/RT.jpg\" alt=\"Scheme\" width=\"440\" \/><\/p>\n<!-- kcite active, but no citations found -->\n<\/div> <!-- kcite-section 14515 -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most visitors to London use the famous underground trains\u00a0(the &#8220;tube&#8221;) or a\u00a0double-decker bus to see the city (one can also use rivers and canals).\u00a0So I thought, during the tourism month of August, I would show you an alternative overground circumnavigation of the city using the metaphor of benzene. Benzene you see is a ring, comprising [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":5,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2661],"class_list":["post-14515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A tourist trip around London Overground with a chemical theme. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=14515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A tourist trip around London Overground with a chemical theme. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most visitors to London use the famous underground trains\u00a0(the &#8220;tube&#8221;) or a\u00a0double-decker bus to see the city (one can also use rivers and canals).\u00a0So I thought, during the tourism month of August, I would show you an alternative overground circumnavigation of the city using the metaphor of benzene. 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Sequel to benzene reduction.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"December 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I noted briefly in discussing why Birch reduction of benzene gives 1,4-cyclohexadiene (diagram below) that the geometry of the end-stage pentadienyl anion was distorted in the presence of the sodium cation to favour this product. This distortion actually has some pedagogic value, and so I elaborate this here. The starting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"antiaromaticity\"","block_context":{"text":"antiaromaticity","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?tag=antiaromaticity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/benzene-22.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":485,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=485","url_meta":{"origin":14515,"position":1},"title":"Longer is stronger.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"June 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The iconic diagram below represents a cornerstone of organic chemistry. Generations of chemists have learnt early on in their studies of the subject that these two representations of where the electron pairs in benzene might be located (formally called electronic resonance or valence bond forms) each contribute ~50% to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Kekule structures of benzene.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/benzene.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12329,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=12329","url_meta":{"origin":14515,"position":2},"title":"More (blog) connections spotted. Something new about diphenyl magnesium?","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"April 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I have just noticed unexpected links between two old posts, one about benzene, one about diphenyl magnesium\u00a0and\u00a0a link to August Kekul\u00e9.\u2020 The post about benzene dealt with the apparently simple issue of why all the C-C bonds are of equal length. The answer, in brief is purely because of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30548,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=30548","url_meta":{"origin":14515,"position":3},"title":"Molecules of the year 2025: Benzene-busting inverted sandwich.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"January 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Sandwich compounds are the colloquial term used for molecules where a metal atom such as an iron dication is \"sandwiched\" between two carbon-based rings as ligands, most commonly cyclopentadienyl anion (the \"bread\") as in e.g. Ferrocene - a molecule first discovered in 1951. An \"inverted\" sandwich is where the carbon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5991,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=5991","url_meta":{"origin":14515,"position":4},"title":"Violations. There are none!  Part 2.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"December 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I left the story of the molecule below on the precipice of a cliff. I had shaved off the four benzo groups (blue) in the time honoured computational tradition of clearing away distractions. Unfortunately, it became clear as the story unfolded that the benzo groups had a distractingly critical role\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/86-dibenzo.svg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3276,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=3276","url_meta":{"origin":14515,"position":5},"title":"The melting points from benzene to cyclohexane: a prime example of dispersion forces in action?","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"December 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the delights of wandering around an undergraduate chemistry laboratory is discussing the unexpected, if not the outright impossible, with students. The >100% yield in a reaction is an example. This is sometimes encountered (albeit only briefly) when students attempt to recrystallise a product from cyclohexane, and get an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"antarctic\"","block_context":{"text":"antarctic","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?tag=antarctic"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/benzene.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"authors":[{"term_id":2661,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"admin","display_name":"Henry Rzepa","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14515"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14521,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14515\/revisions\/14521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14515"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=14515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}