While teaching chapters 17-18, I have shown students the versatility of carbonyls and enolate chemistry. The discussion in Karty’s book is arranged well and does a nice job of spotlighting the chemistry unique to carbonyls, especially as it ranges from selective addition (direct or conjugate) to the use of enolates for alkylation and halogenation. In … Continue reading Are pKa’s Necessary to Succeed in the Classroom?
If I Could Turn Back Time
As a teacher, I try to remember what organic chemistry was like for me as a student. I know that to be effective instructors, we need to be able to see topics through our students’ eyes. After five years in academia, my list of main organic chemistry takeaways has grown to the following five points: … Continue reading If I Could Turn Back Time
pKa Values: A Chemist’s Best Friend to Predicting a Reaction
Proton transfer reactions are described in Chapter 6 of Karty and are the students’ first experience with a general reaction. When introducing this material to my students last week, they were a little nervous when I said the word “reactions.” I told them that my job, in guiding them along their organic chemistry journey, was … Continue reading pKa Values: A Chemist’s Best Friend to Predicting a Reaction