The only way of mastering any topic in Organic Chemistry is doing lots of practice problems. And I know, seeing my students, that starting to work on a practice problem may be the hardest part as you don’t know where to start. It is difficult to visualize what where the double bond would be moved if you follow the five curved arrows crammed in one step. Here is the trick:
We are always told to think before doing something. Fair enough. But let me tell you, it is also strangely enough, that in Organic Chemistry, it is often better to draw and then think about what you did (not in the lab though). It is much easier to have a structure in front of you and check for errors and improvements.
Do the first step, take the pencil and you will see that the ball gets rolling.
You have all these Organic Chemistry Practice Problems waiting to be solved!
NMR Practice Problems In the following examples, we will learn how to solve NMR practice problems step-by-step in over 100 min video solutions which is essential for organic structure determination. The emphasis is on the 1H proton NMR and most … Read more
What is the R and S Configuration, and why do we need it? If we name these two alkyl halides based on the IUPAC nomenclature rules, we get the name as 2-chlorobutane for both: … Read more
Carboxylic acid derivatives practice problems This is a comprehensive practice problem covering most of the nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions of carboxylic acids and their derivatives. Here is the content of this 1-hour video for the practice problem solutions: The detailed … Read more
The addition reactions of alkenes are the big start of going deep into Organic reaction mechanisms in the upcoming topics such as alkynes, radical reactions, aromatic compounds, and most of the others. This summary sheet summarizes all the important reactions … Read more
In this practice problem, you will need to determine the major organic product and the mechanism of each reaction. This covers the competition between SN1, SN2 nucleophilic substitution, and E1/E2 elimination reactions. You can check this post (SN1 SN2 E1 … Read more
Saturated and unsaturated compounds In this post, we will talk about saturated and unsaturated compounds, the degree of unsaturation (or Hydrogen Deficiency Index -HDI), and the different ways of calculating it. Let’s start with simple examples of saturated and unsaturated compounds. … Read more
The hybridization theory is often seen as a long and confusing concept, and it is a handy skill to be able to quickly determine if the atom is sp3, sp2, or sp without having to go through all the details … Read more
Check Also in Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions: SN1 SN2 E1 E2 – How to Choose the Mechanism Is it SN1 SN2 E1 or E2 Mechanism With the Largest Collection of Practice Problems Introduction to Alkyl Halides Nomenclature of Alkyl Halides Nucleophilic Substitution … Read more
Halogens are ortho, para directors, however, they are also deactivators! Here is short summary to answer why halogens, being deactivators, are still ortho, para directors: Now, let’s discuss this a bit more in detail by first doing a … Read more
In the previous post, we discussed the principle and mechanism of the Wittig reaction. Go over those if you need to, and in the following practice problem, we will work on proposing a synthesis for Wittig reagents as well as … Read more
