Preparation for Orgo 2

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Tawantinsuyu

Getting ready to start up this next semester, taking orgo 2. How can I prepare? What topics from orgo 1 are most important to review?
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Know the basic SN1/SN2 and E1/E2 mechanisms. Be prepared to learn many reactions and complete more complicated synthesis questions. Otherwise I didn't find it any more challenging than ochem1, just more memorization IMO.
 
You are not prepared!!!

Mhmm. Understanding bonding angles came in handy for me. A firm grasp of electron movement was crucial for Ochem I, but it is what Ochem II is all about. Review electronegativity, as well. SN1/2, E1/2, reactions too.
 
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For us it was like Orgo 1: Concepts and a few mechanisms. Orgo 2: Mechanisms on crack.

So if you're good with concepts, start learning them. If not, review concepts.
 
Just remember: if your professor asks anything about why something is more stable than the other isomer, the answer is resonance.

Also, pray to the Organic Gods that you don't fail.

Edit: Forgot that you need to sacrifice 1 premed per week to the Orgo gods. Or just 1 ChemE major in the semester.
 
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Know sn2, the others were never used in my orgo 2 class. Understand what electronegativity is an how it affects mechanisms, review IR and NMR (mostly IR), and nucleophilicity and electrophilicity, as well as acidity and basicity as they are some dictating forces in mechanisms. Aside from that, my best advice is to do practice problems until you can't get the questions wrong, not until you get most of them right.

Oh and Organic Chemistry as a Second Language.
 
Oh..and OP, while Ochem 2 is pretty similar to Ochem 1 in terms of reactions, the part where we learn about NMR, IR and Mass Spec is going to be sort of out of the left field haha. Don't know how deep other classes go but I would really go over complex NMR splitting trees (and splitting in general). Spent hours on that and still don't understand it.
 
I'm curious. How many here had to know mechanisms?

As in memorize them for the exam?
 
We had to know mechanisms. Just the big ones though.
 
IMO Orgo 2 was easier than orgo 1, as it had far less stereo and regeochemistry than orgo 1 did, but on the other hand it also had many more reactions to memorize.
 
musicalfeet said:
Oh..and OP, while Ochem 2 is pretty similar to Ochem 1 in terms of reactions, the part where we learn about NMR, IR and Mass Spec is going to be sort of out of the left field haha. Don't know how deep other classes go but I would really go over complex NMR splitting trees (and splitting in general). Spent hours on that and still don't understand it.
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Luckily my orgo 1 professor was a jerk and forced to learn a crapload about that stuff.
 
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Make Or Break said:
I'm curious. How many here had to know mechanisms?

As in memorize them for the exam?
Click to expand...


We had to know the reagents and products for our tests in class, but the final included intermediates as well 🙁
 
We had to know all of them, including catalysts/solvents. But I had a good professor that taught us how the mechanisms worked so it was less memorizing and more understanding how species reacted so you could extrapolate the mechanism for the exam.
 
Sn1, Sn2, E1, E2, all alcohol reactions (if you have learned them), acid/base reactions, alkene and alkyne reactions (if you learned them), nucleophile and electrophile, IR and NMR, resonance.

Do sample problems from O-Chem 1 to refresh yourself. Also make sure you can do predict the product and synthesis problems from O-chem 1 with ease. O-chem 2 isn't that hard; you already learned the basic concepts in O-chem 1. The reason its hard is that it is a lot of material.

Let me know if you have other questions. I am an O-chem tutor at my college and did very well in both semesters of O-Chem.
 
Make Or Break said:
I'm curious. How many here had to know mechanisms?

As in memorize them for the exam?
Click to expand...

Had to memorize A LOT of different mechanisms. I think it totaled to about 15-20 different mechs for the Orgo II final
 
I felt that mechanisms helped me memorize the reactions much faster--also helped me remember "exceptions" to the rule, as the reason why things are exceptions will tend to be shown in the mechanism.
 
If you're memorizing mechanisms, you're doing it wrong. You need to build your mechanistic intuition by getting a good feel for the patterns and why they occur.

Pushing Electrons is a fantastic book for building mechanism intuition and worth going through.
 
musicalfeet said:
Resonance and sterics...the answer to everything 🙂
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so much this!!! resonance or steric hindrance.


i also tried to get smart on a test one time and put "hyperconjugation"... the teacher wrote "Nice try" in the oh so harsh red pen


OP I suggest a "cook book". Each page has it's own mechanism as to not distract you when reviewing each mechanism. Add each mechanism as you learn it. You could also use Anki I suppose.


Make fake molecules and make a list of common reactants and solvents, etc and see what you can do with each molecule and what is most likely, etc.
 
On Eagle's Wings said:
Fantastic book for getting more practice. I used this one alongside my textbook (Organic chemistry by J Smith).
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I really wish people would stop thinking O Chem is so hard and just pick up this book. I had two different professors for I and II. One used a textbook and one didn't. It didn't matter. These books helped me ace both classes. I had the highest grade in the class by far and it had almost everything to do with these books. I like to think I'm smart, but I'm not that smart. lol. I just used the right tools.
 
Make Or Break said:
I'm curious. How many here had to know mechanisms?

As in memorize them for the exam?
Click to expand...

By the last midterm and final, we had to know all mechanisms that were walked through in lecture. Prof would provide a detailed list before exams reiterating which mechanisms we were responsible for and which reagents we were responsible for (he would often tack on reagents for reactions we went over in depth that were originally discussed with a different reagent though) and if they were in the book he usually made us know the mechanism actually. I'm so proud of the study guides I made to help me get through the class :angelic: will hopefully serve as my MCAT savior
 
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