wightolore
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how do i study
Took O Chem more than 4 years ago and I forgot a ton. Anyone have any pointers how to get back to where I was? Should I focus mainly on mechanisms,
memorize properties of the functional grps, look at orbitals, etc..? So much content and I'm feeling overwhelmed.
[Edited on 22-7-2011 by wightolore]
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Magpie
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To be good at O chem takes total dedication IMHO. You have to live and breathe it for years. In college I liked my O Chem course so much that I
(briefly) considered changing majors. But I was not inclined to the level of dedication and years of study required.
Just keep steadily working away at it both through study and lab work. It will eventually all come back. A refresher course would be of great
benefit.
Understand that I am not speaking as a professional in the field of O Chem. I'm just a fascinated hack.
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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francis
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How many years/sessions or semesters of organic chem had you done?
The Khan Academy is excellent for the basics of organic chemistry (I guess equal to about an introductory session/semester of organic chem).
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Then if you want to move on, try the McGill COOL Organic Chemistry Intro and Organic Chemistry 2 courses, which introduces spectroscopy, covers lots
of carbonyl group reactions, also esters/amides/anhydrides, carboxylic acids, aromatics, amines and other functional groups.
http://cool.mcgill.ca/
Also, the book 'Instant Notes for Organic Chemistry' by Patrick is good, it's quite short but covers all of the stuff I learned in first and second
session organic chem.
The way I have been learing organic chem, which seems to work is:
- for each rxn I learn, I have a flashcard with the reagents on the front and the products on the back, and any notes I need.
- I write a card with the mechanism for the rxn, and the conditions.
- I write a book of Functional Groups (as I learn about them) with 'Preparation of' and 'Rxns of' components.
- Each time I learn the reactions of a functional group, I ask myself, "How could I make this?"
- I read each step of the reaction mechanism, or just details about the reacton into a MP3 recorder, and listen to these on my way to Uni.
- I work through McMurry's 'Organic Chemistry' end of chapter problems.
So if you start with the Khan Academy you'll be on the right track, with their Organic Chemistry section. It's quite well done.
Good luck
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Paddywhacker
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If you are studying, then you are already on the wrong track. You have to find some aspect of organic chem that you can be passionate about. A lot
of us find, it is probably safe to say, the relationship between the structures and the activities of various mind-altering drugs fascinating.
As an aspiring chemist I memorized the structures and synthesis of all of the drugs that were popular in those hippie days. Nowadays it is the same,
only the target of my obsession is flavorings and scents. At various times it was vitamins and metabolic pathways.
You will do best if you develop a strong interest in one particular field and then branch out from it to pick up the broader aspects of being an
organiker.
If you stay in organic chem then a passionate interest will keep you involved even if you cannot gain employment in the field. Sadly, it looks as if
the previous decades were golden years during which thousands of chemists were well paid by the pharmaceutical industry. Those doors seem to be
closing, and I wouldn't be surprised if, when the roundabout swings the other way, chemical discoveries will all be made by computational simulation.
Wetwork chemists will be as quaint as coal-shovelling engineers on a steam train.
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wightolore
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lotsa great advice guys. Thanks for taking the time. total dedication, buncha great sources, and find a passion.. all great stuff that i'm going to
incorporate. i too enjoy the chemistry associated with mind-altering substances, so i believe i can start there. while khan academy seems very
accessible and great for review. again thanks all!
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Mildronate
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To my mind hardest thing in organic is mechanisms.
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DDTea
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You probably remember more than you think you do. From what I've seen, though, a lot of people learn organic chemistry in a very superficial way.
Instead of looking for patterns and principles, they memorize. That would be like going into a physics class and memorizing every equation you
learned rather than simply how to derive them: it's a hopeless approach that quickly becomes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
Don't beat your head against a wall learning things you've *probably* already learned. Instead, try to go to the next level (which will also show you
how much you know/don't know) and cover new ground. Focus on learning it in greater depth than last time, though: pay special attention to all that
boring crap like thermodynamics, kinetics, MO theory, carbocations (in the context of MO theory), and organic mechanisms. This is definitely the more
boring part of O. Chem. However, this is the footwork that needs to be mastered to save yourself many hours of frustration later.
For learning how to approach mechanisms, perhaps the best book will be "The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms" by Robert
Grossman. Get it. Work through it. It may take you time, but there's something to be said about learning a subject from a book versus simply
reading a book from a subject.
When I truly want to learn a subject from a book, this is what I do: a quick read through of the chapter, taking note of what the main ideas seem to
be, followed by a much more in-depth reading/outlining. Then, of course, working a few of the problems.
You shouldn't have to "find" a passion, so to speak. You just need to do an honest self-analysis.
"In the end the proud scientist or philosopher who cannot be bothered to make his thought accessible has no choice but to retire to the heights in
which dwell the Great Misunderstood and the Great Ignored, there to rail in Olympic superiority at the folly of mankind." - Reginald Kapp.
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vulture
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| Quote: |
You probably remember more than you think you do. From what I've seen, though, a lot of people learn organic chemistry in a very superficial way.
Instead of looking for patterns and principles, they memorize. That would be like going into a physics class and memorizing every equation you learned
rather than simply how to derive them: it's a hopeless approach that quickly becomes overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
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Couldn't agree more. Approach unfamiliar reactions by analogy, try to identify the sites with high/low electron density and assume accordingly. This
will get you a long way.
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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francis
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Quote: Originally posted by Paddywhacker  | If you are studying, then you are already on the wrong track. You have to find some aspect of organic chem that you can be passionate about. A lot
of us find, it is probably safe to say, the relationship between the structures and the activities of various mind-altering drugs fascinating.
As an aspiring chemist I memorized the structures and synthesis of all of the drugs that were popular in those hippie days. Nowadays it is the same,
only the target of my obsession is flavorings and scents. At various times it was vitamins and metabolic pathways.
You will do best if you develop a strong interest in one particular field and then branch out from it to pick up the broader aspects of being an
organiker. |
I don't think studying means someone's on the wrong track.
Surely studying the subject leads a person to find the parts they enjoy?
For myself, the more I learn about chemistry, the more enjoyable it becomes, and I suppose this is true for many fields.
There are lots of fascinating topics in organic chemistry; I don't know about mind-altering drugs, but I think nucleophilicity is pretty cool.
[Edited on 24-7-2011 by francis]
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Nicodem
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Actually, learning that is the (relatively) easy part. There are basically only 4 groups of mechanisms in organic chemistry: polar, radical,
electrocyclic and organometallic. Each of these has different subsgroups, but once you grasp the concept it is easy to see the whole picture and learn
them all in matter of months.
The hard thing is applying this knowledge in real life. Theory is the sum of experience of thousands of researchers. Now imagine applying theory
toward a goal in your own experience. This goes into the opposite direction that was used to construct theory and thus requires analytical thinking.
That is the major obstacle for every scientist. If you are not able of analytical thinking, then you have no chance of ever becoming a organic chemist
- you need to see and comprehend the roles and interactions of everything and anything in a larger system. Then you need to fit the enormous amount of
theory into this new mindset. This is the part that demands what Magpie says: "You have to live and breathe it for years." Breathing organic chemistry
is not healthy, so only the most obsessed go that far as to dedicate their life to it.
People who are unable to think analytically commonly consider theory as something useless and in a sense they are right about it - to them it is
totally useless. However, they are wrong in one thing, it is not the theory that is useless, it is their mind that is totally useless for
interpretation of the theory. They simply can not read it and are stuck in a dead end. For such people, theory means no more than a book means to an
illiterate.
…there is a human touch of the cultist “believer” in every theorist that he must struggle against as being
unworthy of the scientist. Some of the greatest men of science have publicly repudiated a theory which earlier they hotly defended. In this lies their
scientific temper, not in the scientific defense of the theory. - Weston La Barre (Ghost Dance, 1972)
Read the The ScienceMadness Guidelines!
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Mildronate
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4groups yes, but there ar things like carbkatjones and enoles, aldole condensation, resonanse forms...
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