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…
One of the most common questions in organic chemistry is ‘which of these two compounds is more acidic?’ Here are the 4 most important factors to consider. How to determine the stronger acid In Organic Chemistry, acids and bases is really quite qualitative. We’re often looking at whether a compound is even acidic or basic at all….
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…
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? The best way to get good at mechanisms is through lots of practice! But, apart from that,…
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? Yes, nomenclature will be on the exam Pretty much every organic chemistry course…
How and why do carbocations rearrange? Professors love to torture, err.. I mean “test” students with exam questions that involve carbocation rearrangements. So, when do carbocation rearrangements occur? It can be confusing to know how to spot what will happen in these reactions, but there’s some basic principles that will have you migrating the right…
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