What Makes A Good Nucleophile?
Factors That Determine Whether A Species Is A Good Nucleophile If you read the last post, you’ll recall that a nucleophile is a species that
Read moreA Primer On Organic Reactions
What makes a good leaving group?
Good Leaving Groups Are Weak Bases A leaving group (a.k.a. “nucleofuge”) is the new Lewis base that is generated in various substitution and elimination reactions when
Read more3 Factors That Stabilize Carbocations
Carbocations: Properties, Formation, and Stability Carbocations are electron-deficient species with an empty p-orbital Lacking a full octet and bearing a positive charge, they tend to
Read moreEquilibrium and Energy Relationships
One kcal/mol is actually a lot This article discusses the relationship between the equilibrium constant K and the difference in energy ΔG, and explores some
Read moreWhat’s a Transition State?
Here’s a question that comes up a lot: What’s a transition state? A transition state is a very short-lived configuration of atoms at a local
Read moreHammond’s Postulate
Last week Diana left this comment: I recently had my first orgo exam and one of the concepts that I have trouble visceralizing is Hammond’s
Read moreLearning Organic Chemistry Reactions: A Checklist (PDF)
Learning A New Organic Chemistry Reaction: A Checklist 1. Some Memorization Is OK. Recently, we tried to understand what instructors mean when they say, “Don’t Memorize!”,
Read moreIntroduction to Free Radical Substitution Reactions
The four posts on acid-base, substitution, addition, and elimination covered the 4 main reactions in organic chemistry I. In this second series of posts we go beyond these to introduce a
Read moreIntroduction to Oxidative Cleavage Reactions
The four posts on acid-base, substitution, addition, and elimination covered the 4 main reactions in organic chemistry I. In this second series of posts we go beyond these to introduce a
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