Maybe they should call them, “Formal Wins” ?
In April of this year, Braves reliever Luis Avilan came in with a 5-1 lead in the 8th inning. Eight batters later, he’d given up
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A Key Skill: How to Calculate Formal Charge
Hey! Welcome to Master Organic Chemistry, just in case you’re a first time visitor. In this blog post I explain how to calculate formal charge for molecules.
Read moreIntroduction to Acid-Base Reactions
Following up on the 4 major classes of reactions you encounter in Org 1, let’s look at the first of those four: acid base reactions.
Read moreThe Third Most Important Question to Ask When Learning A New Reaction
When learning any new reaction, I think you always have to start with the “what”. What bonds are forming, and what bonds are breaking. After
Read more7 Factors that stabilize negative charge in organic chemistry
Like I wrote about last time, it’s good – but not enough – to recognize partial charges and to figure out where they interact. Since
Read moreCommon Mistakes: Formal Charges Can Mislead
Formal charges have their plusses and minuses. Har har. One one hand, they’re an indispensable accounting tool. If a molecule bears a charge, it would
Read moreCurved Arrows (for reactions)
If you think of electrons as the currency of chemistry, reactions are transactions of electrons between atoms. Just like double entry book keeping was developed
Read moreCurved Arrows (2): Initial Tails and Final Heads
Here’s a handy little trick for accounting for charges when you draw curved arrows. You know by now that curved arrows are our accounting system
Read moreHow To Use Electronegativity To Determine Electron Density (and why NOT to trust formal charge)
Last time we talked about how electrons are the “currency” of chemistry and every reaction is a transaction of electrons between atoms. That means that
Read moreIntroduction to Resonance
Last time we talked about how to use electronegativity to find the electron densities in a molecule – and when to ignore formal charge. However
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