It's a pretty standard hydrolysis, you can find the mechanism in any O-chem text. There's really no use in explaining it step by step verbally on a message board.
Notice the structure of aspartame. They hydrolysis occurs at the amide functionality which cleaves the molecule into a...
Yes, ozonolysis cleaves a carbon. Yes, the product has ten carbons. BnBr plus butene makes eleven carbons.
I'm guessing you're confusing BnBr with PhBr.
Are you sure that's the right number of carbons? If so, ozonolysis with reductive work-up of the butene, followed by Grignard addition of the bromobenzene to the aldehyde.
Actually, I think you can buy it now. Not that I'd trust it, I'd just make my own if other ways of activating Mg wouldn't work. Usually stirring the turings under argon overnight works fine. If not that, then 1,2-dibromoethane usually does the trick.
Actually, in the reduction of carbonyl compounds with LiAlH4, the oxygen coordinates with the aluminum. You end up with the aluminate. That's pretty well known.
And this is why I recommend against getting mechanism from anonymous second-hand sources. If you want to look up specific...
I wasn't aware it had shown any cytotoxic activity. I do know it is being used to treat leprosy. And it is being synthesized in its enantiopure form, so I'm assuming the rate of racemization under physiological conditions is much too slow to cause the deleterious side effects.
Soccer has all kinds of benefits for girls.
For one, girls who practice sports have higher self esteem and are less likely to be abused later in life.
Tell your sexist friend to kiss your butt.
I'm interested in where you found this out. I was under the impression that thalidomide did NOT racemize in vivo.
Anywho, look at the structure of thalidomide. Are you familiar with what an enol or enolate is? Well, the chiral carbon is enolizable. I'm not sure of your O-chem background...