Sigma bonds come in six varieties: Pi bonds come in one
You may recall from Gen chem (and no doubt your first week of o-chem as well), that orbitals on carbon come in two flavors: s
Read moreIntroduction to Cycloalkanes
Cycloalkanes: Two Key Consequences of The Fact That Hydrocarbons Can Form Rings In the first few weeks of an organic chemistry class, we’ve learned that:
Read moreSuccess Stories: How Kari Went From C– to B+
In this week’s success story, reader Kari writes in from a large university in Minnesota, saying, “I really underestimated the power of group study until
Read moreOrganic Chemistry Is Shit
The Chemical Formula For Poop (Among Other Things) Some days you might feel like you can’t escape organic chemistry. You leave the lecture hall and
Read moreGeometric Isomers In Small Rings: Cis And Trans Cycloalkanes
Geometric Isomers: Cis vs Trans Cycloalkanes In the last post, we mentioned that one of the consequences of the fact that carbon can form rings
Read moreCalculation of Ring Strain In Cycloalkanes
Ring Strain In Cycloalkanes (1) – Calculation of Ring Strain This post is all about how ring strain is calculated. If you want more specific
Read moreCycloalkanes: Ring Strain In Cyclopropane And Cyclobutane
Ring Strain In Cyclopropane and Cyclobutane In the last post we saw that cyclopropane and cyclobutane have an unusually high “ring strain” of 27.6 kcal/mol
Read moreCyclohexane Conformations
Conformations of Cyclohexane (and Cyclopentane) In the last post, we saw that ring strain of cyclopropane and cyclobutane were 27 and 26 kcal/mol respectively. They
Read moreCyclohexane Chair Conformation: An Aerial Tour
A Fly-by Of The Cyclohexane Chair Conformation Sometimes words just don’t do the job, so I built a model of the cyclohexane chair and took
Read moreHow To Draw The Cyclohexane Chair Conformation
How To Easily Draw Your First Cyclohexane Chair Using the “Parallelogram Technique” Now that we’ve had an aerial tour of the cyclohexane chair, we’re going to
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