All Comments on 'A Ph.D. in Chemistry Ch. 02'

.... But a nucleophilic addition involving olefins? They must be polarized olefins! (And does anyone actually say "olefins" any more? They're alkenes....)

I like how you're building the tension between Matilda and Henry, and I look forward to future installments!

Quick question: Why does she "hate" him? I'm not being obtuse. I understand she's wary of losing her position to him. As a new professor, in direct competition for a single available position, it's understandable she'd be guarded, not wanting to get close. I think if you were to expound on that, explore her reluctance to be friends with him, your statement that she hates him would have more of an impact. Her willingness to lunch with him profoundly negates her sentiment of dislike, and causes me to disregard that statement. My advice: work that ambivalence in. Give her pause. Introduce a mini-crisis, her realizing at the end of her day, perhaps as she is falling asleep, that, "Hey, I hate him...or I'm supposed to hate him. Huh, I don't hate him..." Then, it's morning, and, crap! She better get back to hating...etc. I know it's early on in your story, and I may have jumped the gun a bit. You've probably already addresses this. I'm invested!

The chemistry is beyond my knowledge, maybe a little exposition on that, and the processes, to those of us who didn't get beyond 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom is water? PhD level biochemistry is a bit above my science intellect, but I'm intelligent enough to follow along if you were to explain a bit. Consider me a Freshman in her class. I'm interested, willing to learn, but I've no idea what you're talking about. Don't dumb it down, just expound a bit.

Yes, you have me hooked, and I'm really interested!