Evil class

[MidwestLovin]

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I dropped Orgo 1 more than halfway through so I took the first exam and know what gave me trouble. Before I attack it again, how do I do well in aspects like stereochemistry among other visual things (fischer projections)? I can't picture these things in my head?

 

[snowflakes]

Model kit!

Take your pick:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...y model kit&sprefix=organic+chemistry+mod,aps

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Agree that the model kits help. Can you convert a sawhorse into a Fischer projection?

Edit: you should be able to build a model of a chiral molecule (a 4 carbon halohydrin would suffice) and see how it converts into a Fischer projection.

 

[MidwestLovin]

I have it! I guess I need to use it.
😛

 

[MidwestLovin]

We aren't allowed to use the kits during exams, so the picturing thing still worries me.

 

[lobo.solo]

Stereochemistry is difficult because you haven't encountered anything like that before IMO. Just practice, practice, practice. Use models. Talk to professors about tricks and stuffs. O-chem as a second language helped me with this topic, which I struggled with initially.

 

[snowflakes]

We aren't allowed to use the kits during exams, so the picturing thing still worries me.

But practicing with a model kit still really helps you visualize what's going on. Practice translating 2D diagrams into 3D models for a while, and then you should get better at interpreting the 2D diagrams.

For example, when you get to hexocyclane, you learn about different configurations (boat and chair) and it's a nightmare to conceptualize until you build it. But once you've built it a couple time, when you go back to the drawings, it'll make so much more sense.

 

[Essene]

We aren't allowed to use the kits during exams, so the picturing thing still worries me.

This is what I was going to ask.

Still, the kits can help with training the mind to visualize 3-d molecules. Is your issue remembering bond angles/hybridization? Because that can be an issue as well when trying to visualize them.

What I did was I imagined a 3-D rendering program. Then I imagined a pointer. Then I imagined clicking and manipulating the position of the molecule in the 3D area. It really helped me.

 

[hoihaie]

use your hands as a model.

Imaging your index finger as fischer projection where each knuckle is one atom. If you curl your index finger slightly, the ends of your finger will be the ends of the ficher projection, and everything on the side of fischer projection will be pointing in opposite direction of your finger tip

 

[butlerw2]

I'm not very visual either but after doing enough problems I was able to recognize patterns and get through it. Stereochemistry, in my humble opinion, is the hardest part of organic chemistry. After the stereochem, you basically just learn reactions and spectroscopy, which is easier (for me).

 

[Theafoni]

I thought stereochemistry was pretty easy, get Ochem as 2nd language, presents stereochemistry very nicely, assigning designation becomes the easiest thing ever.