It wasn't on the syllabus.

But nucleophilic reactions and lithium dialkylcuprates, which were, lost some of their undoubted interest for students yesterday when three naked men burst into Science Center lecture halls C and D and streaked the bewildered pre-meds of Chemistry 17 and Chemistry 5.

"We were all dumbfounded," said Kiran Musunuru '97, a Chem 17 student. "We were all like 'Who are these guys and what are they doing here?"'

Musunuru's question was the mystery of the day. The nudies, who remain unidentified, were apparently overenthusiastic--or over-hormoned--Princeton students.

The students, who yelled "Go Tigers!" and "Go Princeton" as they ran, seemed to be getting rid of exuberance--or inebriation--left over from Head of the Charles weekend.

And while modest Harvard students would not confess to looking too closely, many noted black and orange "P"'s painted on the men's bodies.

The trio's first appearance was in Chem 17, which they may have mistaken for "Science B-29: Human Behavioral Biology."

After entering from the back of the auditorium at approximately 9:30 a.m., the streakers ran down the aisle, circled the desk at the front of the auditorium, and disappeared through the door on the right side of the front of the auditorium.

The three streakers were not finished making appearances for the day, however. Continuing through the connecting hallway into Science Center C, they entered midway through Chemistry 5, ran up the aisle and exited from the back door of the auditorium.

Students said they took a few moments toregister the presence of the alien bodies.

"I heard a lot of strange noises," said JeremyJ. Parise '97, a Chem 5 student. "The teacherlooked toward the door and right as he was openingit, three naked guys came barging in."

"It really happened very fast," said Dave S.Abbruzzese, a teaching fellow for the Chem 5course. "They took everybody by surprise,including the professor."

Lecturer on Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyJames E. Davis, who teaches Chem 5, said he firstthought the streak was a publicity stunt, perhapsfor a Harvard a capella group.

"My first thought," said Davis, "was `what arethese guys promoting?"'

Davis speculated that the incident may haveeven had positive mnemonic effects for normallysleepy students who "will not soon forget" thislecture.

Tension Breaker

Students in both classes said they didn't mindthe interruption, and an explosion of laughterfollowed each intrusion. In fact, studentsapplauded the tension breaker in what are two ofthe more difficult classes at the College.

"It was stress relief," said Chem 17 studentJeff A. Ferrell '97. "It's a pretty tense classmost of the time."

"It definitely woke up the entire class," saidAmy E. Harmon '97, another Chem 17 student.

Even Mallinkrodt Professor of Chemistry GeorgeM. Whitesides '60, who was teaching Chem 17, didnot resent the interruption to his chalk boardcalculations.

"The class was a great hubbub," saidWhitesides. "I found it pretty amusing."

Several students said Whitesides jokedafterwards that the streaking demonstrated thereal reason his son attended Princeton: the sociallife, not the academics.

Despite the brief excitement, the appearance ofthe streakers was no more than a pause in theroutine for Chem 5 and Chem 17 students.

Said Davis: "I went right back to the Millikanoil-drop experiment.