The only way of mastering any topic in Organic Chemistry is doing lots of practice problems. And I know, seeing my students, that starting to work on a practice problem may be the hardest part as you don’t know where to start. It is difficult to visualize what where the double bond would be moved if you follow the five curved arrows crammed in one step. Here is the trick:
We are always told to think before doing something. Fair enough. But let me tell you, it is also strangely enough, that in Organic Chemistry, it is often better to draw and then think about what you did (not in the lab though). It is much easier to have a structure in front of you and check for errors and improvements.
Do the first step, take the pencil and you will see that the ball gets rolling.
You have all these Organic Chemistry Practice Problems waiting to be solved!
Nucleophile and Electrophile – The Terminology From general chemistry, we know that covalent bonds between atoms are formed by sharing two electrons. So, let’s imagine separating these atoms by giving both electrons to only one of them. One becomes an … Read more
So far, we’ve seen a variety of nucleophiles in organic chemistry – halides, hydroxides, alkoxides, thiols, etc. Most of these nucleophiles contain heteroatoms like oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur, but nucleophiles can also be carbon-based, and these are among the most … Read more
There are several ways to prepare esters, and in this lesson, we’ll go over the most common ones you’ll see in organic chemistry. The most famous is the Fischer esterification, where a carboxylic acid is reacted with an alcohol under … Read more
The amine functional group is one of the most common and important nitrogen-containing groups in organic chemistry. Amines are derivatives of ammonia (NH₃), where one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. Amines play central … Read more
The amide functional group is an important carbonyl-containing group in organic chemistry. Amides are widely found in proteins, peptides, pharmaceuticals, and synthetic polymers, and they play key roles in condensation, hydrolysis, and acylation reactions. Since amides contain a … Read more
The ester functional group is another common and important carbonyl-containing group in organic chemistry. Esters are widely found in fragrances, flavorings, fats, oils, and biological molecules, and they play key roles in condensation and hydrolysis reactions. Since esters … Read more
The ketone functional group is another common and reactive carbonyl-containing group in organic chemistry. Like aldehydes, ketones play a central role in nucleophilic addition reactions, oxidation-reduction processes, and are widely found in both biological molecules and industrial compounds. Since ketones … Read more
The aldehyde functional group is one of the most common and reactive carbonyl-containing groups in organic chemistry. It plays a central role in oxidation-reduction reactions, nucleophilic additions, and many biological pathways. It is a carbonyl-containing group, so for starters, recall … Read more
We have seen countless examples of stereoisomers, such as enantiomers and diastereomers, which arise due to different absolute configurations of chiral centers. We learned that chiral centers are only possible when the carbon is connected to four different groups, which … Read more
Let’s look at this conversion through the eyes of a student new to organic chemistry: amides are almost like amines, except they contain a carbonyl (C=O) group attached to the nitrogen.So, how can we add a carbonyl to the nitrogen? … Read more
