Hexavalent - 10-4-2012 at 15:05
How many of you own one of those molecular model/molymod sets? I have owned one for about a year now and found them very, very helpful when learning
chemistry, especially organic isomerism, chiral centers, superimposability etc.. They are also great for demonstrations, where one can show the public
what common items look like at the molecular level, as well as for simulating reactions and having something to physically play with and move around
to show reaction mechanisms etc.
I highly recommend that every decent amateur chemists gets a set, either the small ring-like ones or the larger, ball-type ones, as they can be
purchased very cheaply on eBay. Even the very cheap Chinese brands that come from Hong Kong are perfectly acceptable.
DJF90 - 10-4-2012 at 15:47
I got my at much reduced price when purchased with Clayden's organic textbook. I have to say I barely used it (saying that, I didnt really use the
textbook so much either!, especially when getting to the more complicated/specialised areas). although I consider it to be valuable when judging
accessibility to a reactive center in complex bi/poly-cyclic molecules. Alternatively, software such as chembiooffice does a fantastic job and I'm
fairly certain it adjusts the confromation to produce the lowest energy state. Good stuff, especially when you have it for free on license with an
institution.
[Edited on 10-4-2012 by DJF90]
watson.fawkes - 10-4-2012 at 16:41
I wrote about Darling Models in this thread.