Organic Synthesis Will Kill Me

The eternal struggle of organic chemists captured perfectly! The snake with a 689% yield tips its hat to the lizard with a measly 0.87% yield. In the real world of synthesis, getting even 90% would be impressive, but 689%? That's the stuff of legends (or someone who desperately needs to recalibrate their analytical instruments). Meanwhile, the poor soul with 0.87% is experiencing that gut-wrenching moment when you realize you just spent three weeks synthesizing basically nothing. The face says it all: "Did I really just waste all those expensive reagents for a speck of product that might not even be the right compound?" Chemistry is brutal, friends.