Chiral centers come in two flavours - vanilla or chocolate chip... Just kidding! They come in R and S varieties. There's a three-step process for assigning the R or S, and one of the steps in putting the lowest priority group at the back, away from you. But what do you do when the lowest priority group isn't behaving and isn't already at the back? Read on and watch the video to find out two simple strategies that will rock your chiral world!

If there's one thing you're guaranteed in Organic Chemistry exams, it's to be asked mechanism questions! Reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry are the bread and butter of exam questions! So how do you avoid the most common mistakes?

You probably don't want me designing your house. I can't look at floorplans and 'see' what the finished building will be like. Similarly, when it came to understanding molecules in 3D, I wasn't a natural. I particularly remember being bad at Newman projections! And yet, as a research organic chemist, my specialty was stereochemistry. How does that work?!

I loved playing with Lego when I was a young boy and I don't think it is an over-statement to say that the love of building more complicated constructions from simple Lego building blocks led, at least in part, to me becoming an organic chemist!

I distinctly remember the turning point in my organic chemistry studies. It was mid-way through my first full Organic Chemistry course. I felt like I was drowning in reactions and mechanisms. There seemed endless! So, I wrote them all out on a large sheet of paper, and stuck it to the back of the toilet door (TMI?). Eventually, after repeatedly seeing all those reactions written out, the patterns emerged and it started to make sense. The good news is that you don't need to re-decorate your water closet to get the same results! Flash cards to the rescue!

Want to eat organic nomenclature problems up for breakfast? Let's put the system for naming alkanes to work and practice organic chemistry nomenclature with one big, convoluted molecule - I'm calling it "alkane spaghetti"!  

Naming organic molecules is... complicated! Or, it can sure seem that way. There's alkynes of rules in organic nomenclature 🙂 What are the most important things to know when naming alkanes? What is a system for naming compounds? And, what is going to be on the exam?

I made an app! MoleculAR is an Augmented Reality app for iOS and Android that gives you the ability to visualize and interact with molecules. Point your device's camera at a MoleculAR structure in your lecture notes, and an interactive, 3D representation of that molecule will appear before your eyes!