# Organic chemistry...



## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

It makes me want to blow my brains out. We're only on nomenclature (second chapter) and I already want to roll up into a ball and cry. Not looking forward to this semester, at all.


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## laura024 (Aug 11, 2006)

Yes, it's difficult.  Is it required for your major?


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Yeah, I'm a biology major. I put it off for a whole year (after taking gen chem) because I was so frightened to take it. I really feel trapped, and it's making me extremely depressed. It's taking up all of my study time and I'd rather be focusing on my biology classes, as they are more enjoyable and much more important to me.


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## clt851988 (Jun 9, 2011)

lol, not to scare you but that was the only class I failed when I originally went to school for biology. After my second year, I dropped out of the program because I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I found organic chem so hard, especially the synthesis of organic compounds.


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## Xande (Jul 18, 2011)

I personally wouldn't take that class cuz I know I'd fail lol. 

But hey, if you love being a bio major, have to stick it through.


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## obsidianavenger (Sep 1, 2011)

first of all, you need to not psych yourself out. i am taking it right now as well (are you also using the wade textbook?), and i've found that even though upon first or even second reading i'm feeling overwhelmed, after a few practice problems i feel much better. i remember i actually cried the first time i read the IUPAC nomenclature guidelines, but now, just a week later, i feel confident in my ability to use it. its just a matter of being exposed to it enough that it feels familiar. and not panicking!


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## seafolly (Jun 17, 2010)

Have you thought about getting a tutor? Do you know anyone in the class? Forming a support group of sorts really can make all the difference. After procrastinating seven years to take chem I know how it really can take a little while to come back to you.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

Some people don't take to Orgo well, but I thought it was actually a very easy class in comparison to general chemistry. The class can be made way way harder with a bad professor though, because it is such a concept based class so I think Seafolly is completely right in finding a good tutor. The reason it worked for me is that I'm a visual learner, and I just imagined the flow of electrons in the reactions.

Anyways, if you need help, I don't remember a lot of rxns by name, but I'd be willing to help you out, and maybe explain some concepts. 

Oh, and as a bio major, this class is actually pretty important. Biochemistry is orgo based, and if you can understand orgo, it will be made much easier.


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## medicinmels (Jul 11, 2011)

Faded Lines said:


> It makes me want to blow my brains out. We're only on nomenclature (second chapter) and I already want to roll up into a ball and cry. Not looking forward to this semester, at all.


Organic Chemistry was my favorite subject, especially the labs. I think the reason I did well was because I absolutely love chemistry and I look at labs as an opportunity to apply what I have learned so I would read them way ahead of time, then if I was confused I would look things up online and learn it that way. I never spoke to my professors because I am all about looking things up/learning things for myself but that was a bad idea because you know how you'll need recommendations in the future--it was okay I asked other science professors. If you are pre-med or just any major this blog post is really great: Going to Med School: How to Get an A in Organic Chemistry.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Thanks for all your help guys. After doing all the practice problems for nomenclature, I feel a LOT more confident. My only worries are the "tricks" you have to watch out for, that seem to creep up in carbon chains. I'm taking it day by day and giving it my all.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

You shouldn't be worried yet if you haven't even seen any reactions - which is what orgo is about. Nomenclature isn't really a part of the chemistry, it's just nomenclature. If you have trouble with nomenclature, but are fine with things like SN1, SN2, E1, E2, etc. and why the reaction conditions push the reactions, you'll be fine.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Got help on this one.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

I am having trouble converting Fisher projections into Newman projections, and vice versa. I have gotten several correct, but the method I am using has failed me on others so I think I am doing it incorrectly. Any advice on the following is greatly appreciated:

I am having trouble converting Fisher projections into Newman projections, and vice versa. I have gotten several correct, but the method I am using has failed me on others so I think I am doing it incorrectly. Any advice on the following is greatly appreciated:

For (b), the question tells you do draw a correct Newman Projection that correctly shows the stereogenic centers. I am so confused on how to do this:

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...Picture1-1.png

So it pretty much wants me to finish up the Newman with correct placements of atoms.

The same goes for this:
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...s/Picture2.png

Thanks in advance.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Faded Lines said:


> Yeah, I'm a biology major. I put it off for a whole year (after taking gen chem) because I was so frightened to take it. I really feel trapped, and it's making me extremely depressed. It's taking up all of my study time and I'd rather be focusing on my biology classes, as they are more enjoyable and much more important to me.


Wow - this is like Physics was for me as a CS major.
Do they have study groups? Maybe there is somewhere you can get notes to help you understand these.

My dad was a chem major so I remember seeing notes of his with hexagons and stuff. :lol

I just have to keep track of memory size and addresses in a program myself.


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## Genetic Garbage (May 7, 2011)

As a nutritional science major I also have to deal with chem lectures and labs. I liked organic chemistry much more than inorganic chemistry. It was easier for me. Sure, there was some memorising involved when it came to functional groups and some specific reactions but I liked it overall. Maybe because I am good at memorising. I hate the labs though because they provoke my SA pretty badly.

Sorry, I can't help you with your problem. I learned about the Newman Projection but I needed it only once for an exam I've taken more than a year ago. I am much more familiar with the Fischer Projection and Haworth Projection because I had to draw saccharides, amino acids and also peptides, fatty acids and glycerides and figure out the absolute configuration, E/Z configuration etc.

What I want to tell you though is to hang in there. I know it's overwhelming in the beginning and I wanted to quit more than once because I was so frustrated with chemistry but it gets better. I am not good at chemistry in general but so far I managed to pass all my chem exams the first time I have taken them. I assure you that if I can do it, you can do it as well.

But there are some things that I was never able to figure out such as NMR spectroscopy. I never understood how this stuff worked.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm extremely depressed and can't get out of it.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

Heh, don't get freaked out, all this is is an exercise in visualizing the molecules three dimensionally. Remember that a carbon atom has four bonding sights which form a tetrahedral orientation - imagine it as a 3 sided pyramid with an antenna sticking out, with the carbon being at the top of the pyramid, and other atoms at the three corners of the pyramid, and at the top of the antenna. Because the actual structure is 3-D, but you can only write on a 2-D piece of paper, they have the different projections to help you understand the 3-D structure, with a 2-D drawing. 

So with the Fischer projection, basically, any line that is going horizontal is sticking out at you, while any line that is vertical is sticking away from you, into the paper. With the Newman projection they're going for an even more obvious way to show you it's 3-D by having you look down the molecule, with the carbon atoms being in line. The circle represents the carbon at the back end and the point in the middle represents the carbon in the front end. The lines going to the circle are the bonds of the back carbon, while the lines coming out of the center are the bonds of the front. 

To convert those Newman's to a Fischer, you first need to rotate either the back, or the front bonds, which way doesn't really matter, bud it's easier if you rotate it so that you have two bonds sticking up in the front and the back. Make sure, whichever way you rotate, that the order stays the same, that is, if you rotate the front of a counterclockwise, the top left should be CH3, the top right should be CH2CH3, and the one sticking down would be OH. Once you have it in that configuration, just remember that the ones sticking up are going to be on the sides, and the one's sticking downward are going to be on the top and bottom of the Fischer. Left and right will correspond, and the back carbon on the Newman will be the top carbon on the fischer.

I drew this in paint right now, every different thing is the same thing, just drawn slightly differently. Hope this helps.

edit*
Forgot to add, the best thing you can do is visualize these things in 3-D in your head, and how each diagram relates to 3-D. If you can do this, you'll have no problem being able to convert the drawings.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Dude, thank you so much. I'm watching The Walking Dead right now, and will definitely read all of this and attempt to apply it later tonight. I really, really appreciate it. I'll let ya know how it goes! Thanks again!


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## seafolly (Jun 17, 2010)

You can do it. 
I'm taking an intro chem course through my university online as my tutor was pretty bad. AND I'm about to write a midterm now so...high five for hanging in there. I know it's tough going back after years go by without using it! I marvel at my assignments in 2003 thinking, "Since when did I know those formulas?!" C'mon memory. Don't let that benzo get you!


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## orgoman (Dec 9, 2012)

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1 Structure Determines Properties
2 Alkanes and Cycloakanes: Introduction to Hydrocarbons
3 Alkanes and Cycloalkanes: Conformations and cis-trans Stereoisomers
4 Alcohols and Alkyl Halides
5 Structure and Preparation of Alkenes: Elimination Reactions
6 Addition Reactions of Alkenes
7 Stereochemistry
8 Nucleophilic Substitution
9 Alkynes
10 Conjugation in alkadienes and Allylic Systems 
11 Arenes and Aromaticity
12 Reactions of Arenes: Electrophilic and Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution
13 Spectroscopy
14 Organometallic Compounds
15 Alcohols, Diols, and Thiols16 Ethers, Epoxides, and Sulfides
17 Aldehydes and Ketones: Nucleophilic Addition to the Carbonyl Group
18 Carboxylic Acids
19 Acid Derivatives 
20 Enols and Enolates
21 Amines
22 Phenols 
23 Carbohydrates
24 Lipids
25 Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
26 Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Nucleic Acids
27 Synthetic Polymers


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