Electronegativity Mnemonic

in Organic Chem Study Tips, Organic Chemistry 1, Teaching

I found this good way for remembering electronegativities here and I thought I would share it.

Electronegativities (one decimal place only)

F=4.0  O=3.4   N=3.0  Cl=3.0    Br=2.8   C=2.5   S=2.5   I=2.5   P=2.2   H=2.2

It goes like this:

FON Cl, Br, CSI, P H

“Phone call… be right back… CSI is on…. please hold”

Clever.

What useful mnemonics have you come across for learning organic chemistry?

[EDIT: "Phone call, Bro! CSI is on, please hold" also works]

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Tagged as: electronegativity, fun, mnemonics, shortcuts

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

ChrisD July 30, 2010 at 7:29 pm

It`s a keeper !!!

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James July 31, 2010 at 9:40 pm

The only catch is ignoring the second decimal place of the electronegativities… it screws up the order for the mnemonic.

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tirzah May 31, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Haa. haa. nice one…is this mnemonic for us to know which one has the biggest EN to the smallest EN?

Reply

James June 1, 2011 at 6:50 am

Yep! fluorine is the most electronegative

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