Learning New Reactions: How Do The Electrons Move?
The most important question when learning a new reaction is recognizing “What Bonds Form, What Bonds Break?” If that’s #1, then what’s the second most
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Acid-Base Reactions: Introducing Ka and pKa
The Acidity Constant Ka (And Its Negative Logarithm pKa ) Is An Extremely Useful Measure Of Acidity So last time we went through all the
Read moreCurved Arrows (for reactions)
Curved Arrows: The Accounting System For Electron Movement If you think of electrons as the currency of chemistry, reactions are transactions of electrons between atoms.
Read moreEvaluating Resonance Forms (1) – The Rule of Least Charges
Evaluating Resonance Forms – The Rule Of Least Charges So far we’ve introduced resonance, and introduced the curved arrow formalism to show the movement of
Read more“Compare Organic Chemistry To A Movie…”
Love this quote, from Organic Chemistry 1 as a Second Language by David R. Klein (fuller review to come) on organic chemistry and memorization. You
Read moreWhat 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 moreHow (and why) electrons flow
So what is the key “driving force” involved in chemistry? A chemist would say that “opposite charges attract, like charges repel.” But how can we
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