My way, or the Pi-way

[chem_nerd]

Lovely day of Compsiness today. One of the researchers our group has been studying was on campus today. He sat in on our class and spoke at Seminar, then we all went out to dinner. The subject of this particular post comes from today's seminar. Dan was explaining how molecules pack in thin films--most cyclic molecules with conjugated pi-systems pack edge to face, so that the dipole- positive hydrogens of one interact with the negative pi-cloud of the next. But, if you grow a crystal from ferrocene (central iron atoms give it an Aura of PositivenessTM) and benzene (all shall fear its negative Pi-Cloud of DOOMTM), it stacks face to face, creating a super pi-way.

Bad ASCII illustrations:
Edge-to-Face Stacking:
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Face-to-Face Stacking:
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And, since Dan happens to be a Carl, there was also much reminiscing areound the dinner table. And stuff makes more sense now. Yay sense.