Summary Sheet #3: Reactions of Carbonyls – The Big Picture
The reason why I harp on organic chemistry as boiling down to “nucleophile attacks electrophile” is because it’s a greatly simplifying way to look at
Read moreSummary Sheet #2: Enols and Enolates
Here’s the second summary sheet I’ve put together. It covers enol and enolate chemistry, although more of the fundamental material rather than their reactions. Although
Read moreThe Hell–Volhard–Zelinsky Reaction
A Guided Tour Through “Hell” : The Hell Volhard Zelinsky (HVZ) Reaction The Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky reaction of carboxylic acids results in an alpha bromo carboxylic acid.The
Read more9 Nomenclature Conventions To Know
Chemical nomenclature can be frustrating to learn. It’s a series of conventions which have been patched together over a long period of time, some of
Read moreBreaking Down Carbonyl Reaction Mechanisms: Reactions of Anionic Nucleophiles (Part 2)
Continuing from Part 1, today I’ll cover the remaining 3 classes of mechanistic pathways for the reactions of anionic nucleophiles with carbonyl compounds, using the
Read moreNucleophile attacks Electrophile
Pretty much every reaction in organic chemistry boils down to “nucleophile attacks electrophile”.
Read moreSummary Sheet: Additions to Carbonyls
I put together this summary sheet for the reaction of nucleophiles with carbonyls (click for larger image, see link to downloadable PDF below). It summarizes the two key concepts that are important to understand for these reactions: the effect of electronic and steric factors on nucleophilic addition.
Read moreSome Perspective
For all of those thinking about med school: organic chemistry is not hard. . Complex? Yes. Challenging? Of course. A lot of facts and concepts to memorize
Read moreWelcome to “Orgo Hacks”
Cal Newport’s excellent blog, “Study Hacks”, inspired me to think about the problem of how to learn things in the most efficient manner possible. To
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