s-cis and s-trans
s-cis and s-trans. What does those terms mean? Recall cis and trans. The reason Aldrich Chemical Co. can sell 99% cis-2-butene and 99% trans-2-butene in separate bottles is
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Types of Isomers: Constitutional Isomers, Stereoisomers, Enantiomers, and Diastereomers
Classification of Isomers Given that this is a long post, here’s a quick index. The concept of how molecules can be “related” Non-isomers versus isomers
Read moreAssigning R/S To Newman Projections (And Converting Newman To Line Diagrams)
This post was co-authored with Matt Pierce of Organic Chemistry Solutions. Ask Matt about scheduling an online tutoring session here. In two recent posts we discussed how
Read moreThe Ups and Downs of Cyclohexanes
Drawing cyclohexane chair forms can be a tricky business. While it’s often intuitive to pick out which groups are up and down when they’re axial
Read moreOn Cats, Part 3: Newman Projections
Do you know where the saying “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” comes from? Me neither. But I do know one thing:
Read moreOn Cats, Part 1: Conformations and Configurations
[NOTE: this has been amended to correct some confusion on my part on the difference between configurational and constitutional isocats. Thanks to Prof. Gary Weisman
Read moreThe Many, Many Ways of Drawing Butane
One of the skills you have to develop early in Org 1 is to learn the different conventions for drawing molecules. Let’s use butane as
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