I am so happy that I am finally learning new stuff in my Organic chem class. We have been going over the basic stuff and I have been bored out of my mind. Today though we started going through the mechanisms of different types of Alkene addition reactions and it is really interesting. I love learning about chemistry and I'm glad that the class is more learning based and less memorization based than I had thought it would be. I mean, sure, you could just memorize the 100 plus reactions that we are going to learn during the course of the semester, or you can do as he suggests and actually think about the material, make connections, and be able to come up with those reactions from information that you know. If you know the characteristics of a set of reactions and you have learned the concepts behind the mechanisms of the reaction then you should be able to infer the mechanisms and predict the products of almost any given reaction. For instance, I had known about Markovnikov's Rule, but I just learned about the anti-Markovnikov reactions that occur in the presence of peroxides. It is very useful information because if you know the mechanisms you can set up reactions to get a specific structural- or stereoisomer of the product.
Also, I am so entertained by the fact that I can sit in the balcony for that class. I guess that says a bit about me, but being easily amused makes my days much more fun than they otherwise would be.
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Caitlin...The stuff you are studying right now...I did all of this two years ago. We did the entire Solomons and Fryhle' book. Actually Markonikoff is just a spin-off. Never trust it. Always check for the most stable structures. In alkenes, depending upon stability of intermediate carbo-cation or cabonion or other species via resonance, M-effect or I-effect, decide the reaction mechanism. You can always contact me if you have any questions in organic chemistry. You see i prepared for the IIT (You can know more about them in my blog posts) In the IIT entrance examination, we are asked all of this and if you get any idea of the questions that come in that exam you would freak out! Besides organic, we researched on physical and inorganic chemistry in detail. We had to study advanced Mathematics and Physics too. You can now get an idea why India is progressing the way it is. Our high school curriculum is the toughest in the entire world. You might be surprised by the fact that the IIT is the only university in the world that the US Congress has itself applauded and appreciated.
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