Teach the Mechanism is a platform for Joel Karty and organic chemistry educators to share their experiences and discuss the benefits of a mechanistically organized course. By inviting professors from a wide variety of schools to be guest bloggers, we accomplish an array of topics and unique perspectives. Please get to know Joel Karty and … Continue reading About
A common complaint I have gotten from students for years centers on the “Predict the Products” section of my exams. While they can derive every mechanism for every part of every question (late in second semester, each of my 5-6 Predict the Product questions might have 3-4 reactions in sequence), they don’t have time to … Continue reading Karty Makes the Reaction Notebook Easy
For years I told my students they shouldn’t merely memorize a list of reactions. But what were my actions really telling them? In the last textbook I used, the alkene chapter began with nomenclature, then covered Markovnikov addition of H-X and water, halogenation and halohydrin formation, and ended with hydroboration/oxidation. The next chapter that covered … Continue reading How the Ten Elementary Steps Unified My Course
I’ve noticed over the years that when I put a “name” on something, students tend to panic. We will be doing just fine with SN2 reactions, but when I suddenly name it the Williamson Ether Synthesis, my students become very concerned, as if it’s some completely different concept. Whenever I bring up the Williamson Ether … Continue reading Taking the Enolate off the Pedestal