The Meso Trap
Recognizing Meso Compounds In chemistry, two molecules that are superimposable mirror images are considered to be identical molecules. They will have identical physical properties in all respects.
Read moreUV-Vis Spectroscopy: Absorbance of Carbonyls
UV-Vis Spectroscopy Of Carbonyls (C=O Bonds) UV-Visible spectroscopy is not just about C-C pi bonds. C-O pi bonds can absorb UV light as well! Table
Read moreUV-Vis Spectroscopy: Practice Questions
6 UV-Vis Spectroscopy Practice Problems In the past few posts we’ve covered some of the key points of UV-Vis spectroscopy. Now comes the key question:
Read moreScrew Organic Chemistry, I’m Just Going To Write About Cats
Screw organic chemistry, I’m just going to write about cats. Organic chemistry? People don’t want to hear about it. It’s been called “worse than prison“,
Read moreBond Vibrations, Infrared Spectroscopy, and the “Ball and Spring” Model
The “Ball And Spring” Mental Model For Infrared Spectroscopy Table of Contents Why do UV spectra have such broad peaks? The “stadium” analogy. Introduction to
Read moreOptical Rotation, Optical Activity, and Specific Rotation
Optical Rotation, Optical Activity, and Specific Rotation If you’ve been learning about stereochemistry, enantiomers, and diastereomers, the following might sound familiar: Diastereomers have different physical
Read moreInfrared (IR) Spectroscopy: A Quick Primer On Interpreting Spectra
How To Interpret IR Spectra In 1 Minute Or Less: The 2 Most Important Things To Look For [Tongue and Sword] Last post, we briefly introduced
Read moreIR Spectroscopy: 4 Practice Problems
IR Spectroscopy Practice Problems By itself, Infrared (IR) spectroscopy isn’t a great technique for solving the structure of an unknown molecule. However, we’ve seen that
Read more1H NMR: How Many Signals?
How Many Unique 1H NMR Signals In A Molecule? How many signals will appear in the proton (1H)NMR spectrum of a molecule? If the answer
Read moreHomotopic, Enantiotopic, Diastereotopic
Homotopic, Enantiotopic, and Diastereotopic Groups: What Does It Mean? When you have two hydrogens attached to a single carbon, they can have three different types
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