Is there a mnemomic or easy way to remember...

[pharmdude1]

Hey guys,

Is there any mnemomics or an easier way to remember all the electron geometries and bond angles? I am having a tough time remembering these. Also, what does it this mean: 1-ethyl-3, 4-dimethylcycloheptane (where do they get all these numbers from? I copied this from a question that i didn't understand from kaplan, a picture was provided) Also, what does it mean when they say something like "alkynes are said to be unsaturated"? (i don't understand the unsaturated and saturated concept with organic chem.) Also, (sorry for a lot of Q's) when they talk about derviates like "ethanol is a derivative of ethane", what does that mean? These r some of the things that i did not understand while studying (i havn't taken orgo yet). Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[crazybob]

Hey guys,

Is there any mnemomics or an easier way to remember all the electron geometries and bond angles? I am having a tough time remembering these. Also, what does it this mean: 1-ethyl-3, 4-dimethylcycloheptane (where do they get all these numbers from? I copied this from a question that i didn't understand from kaplan, a picture was provided) Also, what does it mean when they say something like "alkynes are said to be unsaturated"? (i don't understand the unsaturated and saturated concept with organic chem.) Also, (sorry for a lot of Q's) when they talk about derviates like "ethanol is a derivative of ethane", what does that mean? These r some of the things that i did not understand while studying (i havn't taken orgo yet). Thanks in advance.

1) 1-ethyl means that there is an ethyl radical at carbon 1. 3,4-dimethyl means that there is a methyl radical at carbon 3 and also carbon 4. cycloheptane means that you have a 7 carbon ring, with an ethyl radical at carbon 1, and methyl radicals at carbons 3 and 4

2) alkynes are unsaturated means that they do not contain the largest number of single bonds possible. unsaturated just means that double bonds or even triple bonds are present in the molecule

3) ethane is a hydrocarbon with two carbons. ethanol is ethyl alcohol. it is the same as taking an ethane, removing one of the hydrogens and replacing it with an OH radical

if you haven't taken orgo yet, then read an organic chem textbook instead of trying to do so many problems that you don't understand. it's better to guess at a question from understanding the concepts than trying to pick an answer based on whether or not you have seen a similar problem from a practice test.

with the electron geometries and bond angles, it's just plain memorization

 

[pharmdude1]

if you haven't taken orgo yet, then read an organic chem textbook instead of trying to do so many problems that you don't understand. it's better to guess at a question from understanding the concepts than trying to pick an answer based on whether or not you have seen a similar problem from a practice test.

Actually, I just read the orgo section from kaplan today and did not understand some of the things they were talking about so i thought why not ask fellow pre-pharmacy students or other students in general.

 

[rhythmspirit]

Actually, I just read the orgo section from kaplan today and did not understand some of the things they were talking about so i thought why not ask fellow pre-pharmacy students or other students in general.

get another book for ochem! kaplan is not enough for ochem.

 

[pharmdude1]

get another book for ochem! kaplan is not enough for ochem.

What do u guys recommend? So r u guys saying the info in the kaplan book (for orgo section) is limited? or just that it doesn't do a good job explaining the concept, etc?

 

[crazybob]

i would recommend an actual textbook used for organic chem in college. the book i had for orgo is organic chemistry: a biological approach by john mcmurry. try to borrow one from the library if you can.

 

[pharmdude1]

i would recommend an actual textbook used for organic chem in college. the book i had for orgo is organic chemistry: a biological approach by john mcmurry. try to borrow one from the library if you can.

Thanks. I just checked that book out. the 6th edition...What do u recommend that I go over, since orgo is only 40% of the chem section?

 

[crazybob]

nomenclature, common reactions, and other conceptual stuff you see.

 

[siltears]

Go get the IB chemistry book online. its by nuess, its like..25? dollars. But it covers like...most of what you will ever need to know about Orgo chem in...23? pages. ^_^ so basically...if you can memorize things really fast, 3 hours?

 

[pharmdude1]

Go get the IB chemistry book online. its by nuess, its like..25? dollars. But it covers like...most of what you will ever need to know about Orgo chem in...23? pages. ^_^ so basically...if you can memorize things really fast, 3 hours?

Do u know the official name of the book? I want to see if my library has this...

i tried googling it, but there are many other books on chemistry by nuess. Thanks.

 

[UArk2014]

Have you taken Org I ?
If not, it might be tough to get it from a book only. I'm not saying your not smart or anything like that, but I planned on doing the same thing (June PCAT this year) and at the last minute I decided to take Org I during Summer I. It saved my *****. I used Kaplan which has about 3 pages of Organic... not near enough. There are actually some Carboxylic Acid synthesis/transformation questions which is Org II.

If you can swing it, I'd recommend at least getting a month or two of Organic I under your belt before you take the PCAT.

 

[CHOPKINSCaFe]

OCHEM for dummies is awesome!!! I recommend the workbook not the actually text. Also the first four chapters in the ACS (American chemical society) book covers all of OCHEM I. After OCHEM II we took the national exam provided by ACS for our final. The ACS book would also be great for suplementing the class as it makes all the concepts simple and straight forward - if I had to do it over again I'd buy the book before taking ochem, for sumplmentation I HEART OCHEM

 

[siltears]

Do u know the official name of the book? I want to see if my library has this...

i tried googling it, but there are many other books on chemistry by nuess. Thanks.

Author: Geoff NeussPublisher: Oxford Univ PrISBN-10: 0199148074Category: Science & TechISBN-13: 9780199148073 --Format: Softcover --Publication Year: 2001
Author: Geoff NeussPublisher: Oxford Univ PrISBN-10: 0199148074Category: Science & TechISBN-13: 9780199148073 --Format: Softcover --Publication Year: 2001Author: Geoff NeussPublisher: Oxford Univ PrISBN-10: 0199148074Category: Science & TechISBN-13: 9780199148073 --Format: Softcover --Publication Year: 2001http://cgi.ebay.com/Chemistry-for-t...k?hash=item53dc377ca9&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

That is the IB book that I was talking about... It covers like...orbits, spectrascapy (can't spell), configurations etc etc. naming ... nucleiophilic sub. and like...addtion, polymerization etc. etc. and it gives like...basic reagent explanations such as phenothylen and stuff...can't spell without book..so yeah...but you get the basic idea..

 

[charfdorn]

Hey guys,

Is there any mnemomics or an easier way to remember all the electron geometries and bond angles? I am having a tough time remembering these. Also, what does it this mean: 1-ethyl-3, 4-dimethylcycloheptane (where do they get all these numbers from? I copied this from a question that i didn't understand from kaplan, a picture was provided) Also, what does it mean when they say something like "alkynes are said to be unsaturated"? (i don't understand the unsaturated and saturated concept with organic chem.) Also, (sorry for a lot of Q's) when they talk about derviates like "ethanol is a derivative of ethane", what does that mean? These r some of the things that i did not understand while studying (i havn't taken orgo yet). Thanks in advance.

I don't know a mnemonic for the bong angles and geometries; you just have to memorize them. Try making them in three dimensions; this should help you visualize. They all make sense if you think about the electron pairs repelling each other to the farthest possible points on a sphere.