The Zen of SN2 & SN1, E2 & E1. (Part II) How to Crush Substitution and Elimination With Total Confidence If determining what you should do has you guessing or stumped you completely—you may laugh...or possibly cry...when you realize how simple all of this is: You are normally given an alkyl halide (R-X) which is an electrophile...
The Philosophy of Organic Chemistry What Constitutes this Philosophy? What is the philosophy of organic chemistry? Consider this. No one ever sat down and arrived at knowledge of organic chemistry a priori (by thought alone) and no one ever will. In contrast, one can just sit under a tree or in a hammock and...
Your Study Buddy More about Dr. Azulene, Resident Lecturer Does it trivialize matters that a cartoon is our spokesperson? Not really. Gaining true mastery over learning objectives is essential. The medium isn't as important as the substantial half of students who can't even get started doing actual work in Organic Chemistry. It's so bad...
How to Ace Organic Chemistry (Part II) In the first half of this article, the concept of excellence in studying a subject is discussed and includes the short-term goals every top student spends the majority of their time doing. It's a short but by no means easy list to get done....
How To Ace Organic Chemistry (Part I) Want to Ace Organic Chemistry? Organic chemistry is in-depth and has three-dimensional aspects. Although it begins with remedial concepts and trends in the periodic table. Students feel some level of familiarity with these tidbits while concepts are then built upon those definitions. While one doesn't...
Naming Alkanes Nomenclature is best learned by starting and getting perfectly clear about naming alkanes. The skeletal structure of any biological compound is based around the saturated hydrocarbons (alkanes). As compounds that contain no functional groups, alkanes are the least reactive parts of the molecule and constitute both the backbone of a compound, its...
The Organic Chemistry Molecular Model Set and You It is a good idea and probably a requirement that you purchase (or borrow or use any that happen to be available). Whether you use it a lot or not, a molecular model set for organic chemistry is advisable. As you might expect, a...
