There are a lot of things, like videos, practice problems, forums, etc., that can help you succeed in Organic Chemistry. Here is a guide to resources for studying Organic Chemistry.

 

How to Draw Organic Structures

I know from my experience that students encounter this problem, and that is why I put this first on the list.

• Even though ChemDraw is the standard professional software most chemists use for drawing organic molecules, it is not open-source software. However, they do offer ChemDrawdirect, where you can do quite a lot right in your browser for FREE! Update: seems to be discontinued.

https://chemdrawdirect.perkinelmer.cloud/js/sample/index.html

• Aside from this main player, you can also use Chemspider’s tool or Chemsketch as open-source programs:

https://www.chemspider.com/StructureSearch.aspx

https://www.acdlabs.com/resources/freeware/chemsketch/

• Marvin Js is a great resource

https://marvinjs-demo.chemaxon.com/latest/demo.html

• Kekule Js is also fantastic

https://partridgejiang.github.io/Kekule.js/

• Chemdoodle is a paid program that offers a free trial:

https://www.chemdoodle.com/

• MolView looks like a great tool for drawing structures:

https://app.molview.com/

• Chemix is a free online editor for drawing science lab diagrams and school experiment apparatus.

https://chemix.org/

• MolCalc – The Molecule Calculator – An open-source resource to make some molecular calculations.

http://molcalc.org/

• Organic Chemistry Data

Information resources for a variety of Organic Chemistry data.

https://organicchemistrydata.org/

 

Lectures and Blogs

• Academic Earth is a great source to access university lectures. This link, in particular, is for Chemistry courses:

https://academicearth.org/chemistry/

• MIT Open Courseware:

https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?t=Organic+Chemistry

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/#chemistry

• This page of Professor Ian R. Gould at Arizona State University is a must-see resource. Anything from lecture materials, study tips and exams:

https://www.asu.edu/courses/chm233/

• A series of lectures from UCI. These are for advanced organic chemistry:

https://ocw.uci.edu/lectures

Professor David Van Vranken

University of California, Irvine

https://ocw.uci.edu/courses/chem_201_organic_reactions_mechanisms_i.html

• Master Organic Chemistry is a great blog about Organic Chemistry:

https://www.masterorganicchemistry.com

• ChemTalk is an education platform dedicated to making chemistry more accessible, engaging, and fun for students, educators, and the general public:

https://chemistrytalk.org/

 

Where to ask Chemistry questions

• Reddit, perhaps the most passionate community:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chemistry/  and

https://www.reddit.com/r/chemhelp/

Your question will be answered faster than you think.

 

Where to study the IUPAC nomenclature rules

The IUPAC nomenclature rules are straightforward to follow, but they do get confusing, and as the number of functional groups increases with the size of the molecule, you certainly get your argument on how to name it. The IUPAC blue book mightbe  the most comprehensive and reliable guide for these cases:

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-0-85404-182-4

 

Study Resources for MCAT, PCAT, DAT, and other Tests

There are plenty of free and paid resources to prepare for MCAT, but this Free review written by a student is quite impressive, and it is not only chemistry-related

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/92ndgx/my_review_sheets/

• Student-Doctor Network is a good resource for asking questions:

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/

• Reddit surely has its own division for this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/

 

Database for Organic Molecules

• Sigma-Aldrich is the largest supplier of chemicals and glassware, but aside from that, you can also find the properties and spectral data for organic and inorganic molecules.
• If you need to find the NMR or IR spectra for pretty much any molecule, you can use the Spectral Database for Organic Compounds (SDBS):

https://sdbs.db.aist.go.jp/sdbs/cgi-bin/cre_index.cgi

Open-source textbooks

OpenStax offers plenty of textbooks for different subjects, including Chemistry:

https://openstax.org/subjects

Where to practice organic chemistry

I won’t be modest here and tell you that you will find one of the largest collections of Organic Chemistry practice problems at Chemistry Steps for FREE! Yes, the answers and solutions come with a CS Prime membership, but this is 1000’s hours of work, and I need to pay for maintenance and hosting, which are not cheap. It is very affordable, to say the least, and you get all the Organic Chemistry Summary Sheets as part of your membership. Tell me when you find a better deal. I would also like to know about it.

With that said, this is a great resource from Michigan State

https://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty/reusch/VirtTxtJml/Questions/problems.htm

 

Organic Chemistry Exams