Quite a productive day at work, one of those when things work out better than expected.

I started my day with a simple synthesis, hoping to produce a precursor for one of key compounds for my Masters thesis. It was a procedure that's described in literature, so there should have been, in theory, no surprizes, no guesswork - it's like using a cookbook. Mix all the components, boil for half an hour, and it's done.
Generally, this is where workup begins - after the actual reaction, you still have to get your product, because the reaction mixture is, well, a mixture. Besides the product it can contain starting material, solvents, catalysts or remains thereof, side products... Usually, for literature procedures, workup procedure is described as well.
Usually.
This was not the case. Apparently authors of the synthesis description either decided that the workup is so obvious it isn't worth describing, or they left that part out because when they did it, it involved a lot of swearing, attempts to summon ancient spirits to aid them, or sacrifices of farm animals - all procedures generally frowned upon among chemists. They're kind enough to imply that the substance is "yellowish or redish" solid at room temperature, however, so whatever they did, worked.
Assuming that the most obvious workup method should be the correct one, I proceed with evaporating the solvent followed by column chromatography. In theory, column chromatography should let me separate the reaction mixture and collect the individual components. Reality decided to be slightly different, though, so I got an impure product. I decided to leave it at that, since despite being somewhat impure, it's no longer 50/50 mixture with some other shit, and I figured it'd be easier to purify further after I get it in solid form by evaporating it to dryNess. The plan turned out to have a weak spot - the product wouldn't solidify. One of the impurities turned out to be benzaldehyde, which is a slightly oily liquid with a strong almond odor, and no idea when to leave. And it sometimes tends to keep things from solidifying. So I had a thick yellow oil, and no patience left. This is where I decided "screw this", and used the oil in the next reaction as if it was a pure precursor. To my surprize, the reaction went quite smoothly, and I was able to obtain what I believe is just what I need. Time (and analysis) will tell. If not, expect a post in the "messing with my groove" thread.
Inspired by this apparent success, I decided to try another reaction I had put off since further back than I can remember precisely. A year, maybe two. This reaction was a simple esterification reaction. The description for a closely related compound said the reaction takes 48 hours to complete, among other irritating details. I decided to do it like they did in the 1800s - mix the components, add a few drops of good ol' sulfuric acid, reflux for two hours. Looks like it worked, and it appears there are no side products, so no need to worry about that bit.

Yeah, that's the kind of stuff that makes me happy.