like, the grignard reaction. how did victor grignard even think that you could mix together magnesium with an alkyl bromide to make carbon-carbon bonds?

i mean i could see how you could discover that, based on simple electronegativity concepts. but i would never discover that myself. even more complicated, the steglich esterificatoin. how did steglich realize that you can make an ester by mixing together the alcohol and the carboxylic acid with DCC and DMAP?

don't even get me started with sh*t like enantioselective reduction of ketones with oxazaborolidines. you must be a god to discover that.

I'll never understand. i love organic chemistry but i would never be able to discover a new reaction myself, even though I made an A+ in organic chemistry I and II and do home organic chemistry as a hobby.. i like learning about the chemistry that already exists, but i can't discover anything new. i'm just an idiot who likes mixing together chemicals by copying other people's recipes. maybe i'm meant for industry, not grad school.