Interview: “Taking Organic Chemistry Is A Great Way To Develop Critical Thinking Skills”
A few weeks ago I had the chance to interview (via e-mail) an instructor of organic chemistry at a medium-size American school, who shared her
Read moreThe Stronger The Acid, The Weaker The Conjugate Base
Basicity In Organic Chemistry: Some Basicity Trends Today we’ll look at a simple periodic basicity trend across the periodic table and extrapolate from it some
Read moreWalkthrough of Acid-Base Reactions (3) – Acidity Trends
Acidity Trends In Organic Molecules Here, we’ll review the key trends that affect acidity, which all have the common effect of stabilizing negative charge (or more broadly,
Read moreFive Key Factors That Influence Acidity
Five Key Factors That Affect Acidity Today we’ll talk about what’s behind the trends in acidity for different molecules and discuss the most important factors
Read moreOrganic Chemistry Study Tips: Reaction Maps
This time of year one of the most common problems students come to me with is how to do synthesis problems. Like this: There’s a
Read moreComparing the SN1 and SN2 Reactions
Comparing the SN1 and SN2 Reactions In nucleophilic substitution reactions, a bond between carbon and a leaving group (C–LG) is broken, and a new bond
Read moreAcid-Base Reactions: Introducing Ka and pKa
The Acidity Constant Ka (And Its Negative Logarithm pKa ) Is An Extremely Useful Measure Of Acidity So last time we went through all the
Read moreStructure Determination Case Study: Deer Tarsal Gland Pheromone
A Roadmap For Structure Determination of Organic Compounds Male black-tailed deer emit a pheromone from their tarsal gland that attracts female deer. Say you had
Read moreHow to Use a pKa Table
Today we’ll talk about an incredibly important skill that might take some time to grasp but pays tremendous dividends. We’ll go through the exact details of how to use a pKa table. Understanding the proper use of a pKa table will give you the ability to recognize which acid-base reactions will happen and which will not. This will come up a lot as you progress through Org 1 and Org 2. It might be helpful to go back and review some of the factors that affect acidity that were talked about earlier.
Read moreThe pKa Table Is Your Friend
The importance of pKa values in organic chemistry can’t be overestimated, in my opinion. Not knowing pKa values in organic chemistry is like not knowing
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