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Organic Chemistry Tips and Tricks
Partial Charges Give Clues About Electron Flow
Last updated: October 20th, 2025 |
There’s a hidden layer of detail beneath chemical structures that students new to organic chemistry often miss.
I’m talking about partial charges.
Although each of these bonds appears to be covalent, the electronegativity of each atom determines how “greedy” it is for electrons – and this means that many bonds that look “neutral” are actually polarized.
Why is this important? Because attraction between opposite charges is the ultimate driving force in so many chemical reactions. You can see how these “hidden” partial charges provide an important clue for how these reactions proceed.
Note – the arrows show the movement of a pair of electrons (electrons truly are to organic chemistry what currency is to economics – it’s all about the study of their flow).
Note how the arrows always flow from negative to positive – never the opposite way.
It’s why a knowledge of electronegativity trends is absolutely crucial to doing well in organic chemistry.
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00 General Chemistry Review
01 Bonding, Structure, and Resonance
02 Acid Base Reactions
03 Alkanes and Nomenclature
04 Conformations and Cycloalkanes
05 A Primer On Organic Reactions
06 Free Radical Reactions
07 Stereochemistry and Chirality
08 Substitution Reactions
09 Elimination Reactions
10 Rearrangements
11 SN1/SN2/E1/E2 Decision
12 Alkene Reactions
13 Alkyne Reactions
14 Alcohols, Epoxides and Ethers
15 Organometallics
16 Spectroscopy
17 Dienes and MO Theory
18 Aromaticity
19 Reactions of Aromatic Molecules
20 Aldehydes and Ketones
21 Carboxylic Acid Derivatives
22 Enols and Enolates
23 Amines
24 Carbohydrates
25 Fun and Miscellaneous
26 Organic Chemistry Tips and Tricks
- Common Mistakes: Formal Charges Can Mislead
- Partial Charges Give Clues About Electron Flow
- Draw The Ugly Version First
- Organic Chemistry Study Tips: Learn the Trends
- The 8 Types of Arrows In Organic Chemistry, Explained
- Top 10 Skills To Master Before An Organic Chemistry 2 Final
- Common Mistakes with Carbonyls: Carboxylic Acids... Are Acids!
- Planning Organic Synthesis With "Reaction Maps"
- Alkene Addition Pattern #1: The "Carbocation Pathway"
- Alkene Addition Pattern #2: The "Three-Membered Ring" Pathway
- Alkene Addition Pattern #3: The "Concerted" Pathway
- Number Your Carbons!
- The 4 Major Classes of Reactions in Org 1
- How (and why) electrons flow
- Grossman's Rule
- Three Exam Tips
- A 3-Step Method For Thinking Through Synthesis Problems
- Putting It Together
- Putting Diels-Alder Products in Perspective
- The Ups and Downs of Cyclohexanes
- The Most Annoying Exceptions in Org 1 (Part 1)
- The Most Annoying Exceptions in Org 1 (Part 2)
- The Marriage May Be Bad, But the Divorce Still Costs Money
- 9 Nomenclature Conventions To Know
- Nucleophile attacks Electrophile
I have question: now I have two molecules with 4 atoms each 2 toms are bonded my question is Is the more difference in electronegativity between two atoms attack the other molecule with the low difference in electronegativity between it’s 2 atoms
http://thenanoscoop.com
A list of organic chemistry reactions and mechanisms. From basic nomenclature to detailed substitution, elimination and addition reactions.
This makes me miss my organic chemistry days! So much easier to comprehend than medicine….(and I am being serious with this comment, in case it sounds like sarcasm).
Ha! So what do you find the toughest about medicine?