The Single Swap Rule
I don’t think there are that many “tricks” to doing well in organic chemistry, but there are a few. I was kind of surprised last
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Instructor’s “kludges” of organic chemistry
A kludge, as commonly defined, is a workaround – an inelegant, quick and dirty solution to a problem. When I’m teaching a reaction or a
Read moreThe Lies We Tell
Zed Shaw teaches a course in writing Python called “Python the Hard Way“. Because the hard way is easier, he says. In the end, he’s
Read moreThe Power of Laziness
What would you do to save 5 seconds? Let’s say it takes 10 minutes to walk from the gym to class. Would it matter much
Read moreCarbonyl Chemistry: Learn Six Mechanisms For the Price Of One
So at some point during Org 2, you will probably be expected to learn a whole slew of mechanisms. Like these: Conversion of carboxylic acids
Read moreThe Magic Wand of Proton Transfer
When textbooks (or your teacher/TA/tutor) start writing down reaction mechanisms, sometimes you’ll see hell of a lot of curved arrows. The curved arrow notation is useful
Read moreA simple trick: The (R)-(S) Toggle
Instead of redrawing the whole molecule, just leave the hydrogen (or other 4th ranked substituent) in front and figure out whether the substituents ranked 1,2, and 3 go clockwise or counterclockwise. Then toggle (i.e. reverse direction CW to CCW or vice versa) to account for the fact that the 4th ranked substituent is in the front, and assign (R) or (S) based on that. You end up with the same answer without having to redraw anything.
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