{"id":678,"date":"2025-03-06T14:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T14:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/?p=678"},"modified":"2025-05-20T10:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T09:31:07","slug":"my-first-week-of-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/2025\/03\/06\/my-first-week-of-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"A week of Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"

A series of diary entries written and curated by Pinky Ketswaretswe Naicker, Chemistry PhD at Kent. <\/p>\n

‘After the whirlwind of induction week, we were officially declared fit and ready to dive into our real studies\u2014the reason I had come all this way. If you missed my first post about what that first week as a PhD student looked like, I\u2019d highly recommend reading it [here].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The last day of induction week (in the first week at Uni), was Project Day. It was the day we sat down with our supervisors to talk about expectations, the journey ahead, and what our first year would look like. We also went over key university requirements like progress reports, data analysis meetings, induction reviews, health and safety and how to track the overall thesis journey.<\/p>\n

As a chemistry student, one of the first tasks I had to tackle was creating a risk assessment report for my Year 1 project. It\u2019s a crucial step in ensuring all potential hazards are identified and addressed before they become problems. I actually thought the concept was pretty cool\u2014my previous university in South Africa didn\u2019t have a process like this, so I really appreciated Kent\u2019s thorough approach.<\/p>\n

Once the health and safety protocols were completed, we were ready to enter the lab.<\/p>\n

The excitement I felt stepping into that lab (C08) was indescribable. Kent University had so much promise\u2014state-of-the-art equipment, top-tier tools, and the chemistry itself was exactly what I was looking for. And here is a one-of-a-kind photo of my experimental home these next few years \u2013 my research Fume hood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Week One Broken Down:\"\"<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We had a scheduled training session on how to operate the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) machine.<\/strong> This instrument is essential for analyzing the molecular samples we would be working with\u2014exactly what my research group focuses on. My supervisor is at the forefront of synthesizing novel molecules for health and industrial purposes, which made this even more exciting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How it works<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Prepare the sample<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The sample is usually a liquid or a solid dissolved in solvent.<\/p>\n

    Place the sample in the magnet<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The sample is put in a glass vial that sits inside a coil, which is then placed in a powerful magnet (Photo 2).<\/p>\n

    Apply radio waves<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Radio waves are used to irradiate the sample, causing the nuclei to absorb energy and change their orientation.<\/p>\n

    Measure the response<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The spectrometer records the resonance signal, which is a complex exponential decay pattern. An example of what you expect to see (peak wise) is below for a 1<\/sup>H NMR spectra (photo 3).<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I also started synthesizing three novel compounds<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      As someone with very little experience in this type of work, it felt both daunting and thrilling. Thankfully, one of my<\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      supervisor\u2019s post-doc students had ordered the starting materials I\u2019d need for the experiments and was more than willing to help me think through the entire experimental process \u2013 calculations, glassware, sign-offs, etc.<\/p>\n

      The support I received from the multi-generational mentorship within the group was invaluable, and I was so grateful for it.<\/p>\n

      And also, for fun, here\u2019s a photo of my glass pot (a round-bottom flask on a magnetic stirrer plate) cooking something-something! (Photo 4)<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. On Mondays and Fridays, our research group has seminars and data analysis meetings where we present our progress<\/strong>. The group offers constructive feedback, and we all comment on each other’s work. These meetings were a challenge for me, especially as I started receiving feedback and seeing the incredible\u00a0\"\"work my peers were doing. It was<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \"\"during these moments that imposter syndrome hit me hard. But I also realized that I had to embrace this openness to feedback and seek help from others when needed.<\/p>\n

        That first week was a whirlwind of activity, excitement, and, to be honest, intimidation. The pace was relentless, and the expectations\u2014self-imposed and external\u2014were high. I didn\u2019t even realize it, but I started falling into the trap of never giving myself a moment to breathe, to pause and reflect on *why* I started this in the first place. After months of success, suddenly feeling like a complete beginner was incredibly vulnerable.<\/p>\n

        Looking back, though, I can see how unnecessary it is to expect ourselves to be experts from the start of something new. I\u2019m sure many of you can relate to the discomfort and anxiety of stepping into the unknown, whether it\u2019s a new job, relationship, a new phase of life, or anything else. So, if you\u2019re going through something similar, my encouragement to you is this: *Give yourself time.* Don\u2019t be too hard on yourself.<\/p>\n

        In my next post, I\u2019ll be reflecting on how even the frustration and the overwhelming sense of being lost in those first few weeks carried valuable lessons. There were gifts hidden in the discomfort, and I\u2019ll share some of the lessons I learned from those early days\u2014and the many more to come with you.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Until then, stand firm and be encouraged.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        P.S. This is what my first batch of novel molecules looked like (Photo 5). Pink. An affirmation that tag-teams with my name \u2013 Pinky!’ #ThereWillBeArrows<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        A series of diary entries written and curated by Pinky Ketswaretswe Naicker, Chemistry PhD at Kent. ‘After the whirlwind of induction week, we were officially … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37654,"featured_media":682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98478,307755,28766],"tags":[307757,307756,307761],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37654"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/chemfs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}