What to memorize before Organic Chemistry begins

[Moik]

I understand that when it comes to Organic Chemistry, logic is key above all else. But that's not to say there needs to be some memorizing here and there. In the final weeks before I start organic chemistry, what would be some good things to just have in my brain ready to regurgitate? I know that functional groups are one of them... What about benzene derivatives? etc...

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[Valtun]

Orgo is rough enough as it is while you're going through it, no need to do more before the class even starts. With the mindset that you have from even thinking about doing this, I'm sure you'll do great. Just take it seriously when the time comes.

You'll learn everything you need to know during the class

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Functional groups, definitions of nucleophiles and electrophiles (with examples). Review acid/base chemistry

 

[Phile98]

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein. Read and work through the first book.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Orgo is rough enough as it is while you're going through it, no need to do more before the class even starts. With the mindset that you have from even thinking about doing this, I'm sure you'll do great. Just take it seriously when the time comes.

You'll learn everything you need to know during the class

Agreed. If it's been a while since gen chem, review acid/base chemistry and hybridization/orbitals. If you're still good on that stuff, then don't worry about it. A lot of people recommend Organic Chemistry as a Second Language. I have that book, but I ended up not using it because my professor explained things better. If your professor isn't great, you can lean on that book.

 

[Kpw101]

Just review basic chemistry topics as related to orgo.

If you want to push it up a step further, get a model kit and get used to thinking in three dimensions. One of the hardest obstacles to overcome when I was working with the students I tutored was getting them used to holding thoughts in 3 dimensions so they had more time on their exam. (They didn't have to draw every single thing out).

Look up how to build butane, put different colored pieces on them and try to track those pieces as you play with the model.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Second on the acid/base and hybridization/orbital review. I disagree on the model kit. I find it's better to practice configurations in your mind than use the kit as a shortcut. You won't have a kit during exams.

 

[CheeseIsLife]

Personally, I found model kits very useful for understanding the structures of the cyclic hydrocarbons and their conformations. They're also helpful when you first learn sugar configs and the conversions between linear and cyclic forms.

Otherwise, the most important things to know before Orgo 1 are exactly what the commenters above noted: qualitative acid/base chemistry and orbital hybridization/configuration.

 

[Blanky]

Functional groups, definitions of nucleophiles and electrophiles (with examples). Review acid/base chemistry

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein. Read and work through the first book.

 

[seekere]

you can go through like half of the second language book. might give you a little cushion in class

 

[Dagrimsta1]

Step 1: Chill out
Step 2: The key to being good in orgo is to treat it as a wood shop class. You are constantly building, not chairs but molecules, structures, and organic structures.
Step 3: DO NOT MEMORIZE. I cannot stress this enough. Nothing in this course other that naming and a few hybridizations should be memorized. Orgo is a logical class and can be reasoned through. (Mostly anyway)
Step 4: Review the periodic table and get really comfortable of knowing which elements (more the common ones) are located where on the table and the trends across the table (increasing electronegativity, noble gases, alkaline earth metals, etc.)
Step 5: DO NOT MEMORIZE
Step 6: Pay attention in class and practice. Do well to understand the basics in the beginning because it builds upon itself REALLY QUICKLY.
Step 7: Draw out EVERYTHING. Get a model kit and build random models and try to envision the molecules reacting with each other if you cannot picture it in your head. Yes it helps.
Step 8: DO NOT MEMORIZE

Orgo is not hard, but it requires practice and effort. Memorizing mechanisms and stuff like that will make the course unnecessarily hard for you.

 

[seekere]

I’ve heard so much **** here the I disagree with personally, but to each his own. I think memorizing in orgo is great for people and often leads to understanding. And things like model kits never work for me and a lot of people because it requires high levels of 3d vizualization which I can’t do. Same thing went to stereochemistry. I couldn’t mentally represent enantiomers and such in 3d, so I learned cahn ingold rules and rotations. Memorizing makes **** easier and itl get you a B in orgo. When you memorize and then it starts to all make sense, that’s when you get an A. If you go straight for understanding, you might really get ****ed. For reference, I got A’s on almost all of my orgo 1 and 2 exams uncurved without 3d vizualizing and with hardcore memorization and problem set grinding. Do mad problems bro. Practice tests, second language, problems sets.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I’ve heard so much **** here the I disagree with personally, but to each his own. I think memorizing in orgo is great for people and often leads to understanding. And things like model kits never work for me and a lot of people because it requires high levels of 3d vizualization which I can’t do. Same thing went to stereochemistry. I couldn’t mentally represent enantiomers and such in 3d, so I learned cahn ingold rules and rotations. Memorizing makes **** easier and itl get you a B in orgo. When you memorize and then it starts to all make sense, that’s when you get an A. If you go straight for understanding, you might really get ****ed. For reference, I got A’s on almost all of my orgo 1 and 2 exams uncurved without 3d vizualizing and with hardcore memorization and problem set grinding. Do mad problems bro. Practice tests, second language, problems sets.

Everyone is different. I was studying for the MCAT while taking ochem, and I crammed for each exam the night before. I just memorized all the key concepts and managed to get an A on almost every exam and an A in the course. I didn't open my model kit once, and I only used Second Language for one section. I will say though, I do naturally have good 3D visualization.

 

[doctorleospaceman]

You can practice drawing hexagons and heptagons I suppose. Though I still can't draw a heptagon and I did okay.

 

[Isoval]

Be familiar with the following concepts from general chemistry if you aren’t already:
- electronegativity, especially the elements O, N, F, S and P
- understand the concept of basicity and acidity when applied to individual elements (especially N and O)

Other than that, they should teach you everything you need to know. If I had to choose one more thing, I would say to familiarize yourself with resonance forms.

Organic chemistry really isn’t anything you need to worry about. Part of the reason people freak out about it is because it’s 95% new information that you never saw in high school or college up to that point. It’s not particularly hard, just new.

 

[seekere]

Orgo is all about resonance baby. but yeah I would actually stay ahead of the class with the second language book...makes classes easier to absorb

 

[deleted895369]

I absolutely second the do not memorize!! As someone who did well in orgo, I made it a point to memorize as little as possible. Memorization limits you to a smaller subset of problems, but once you understand the reasons behind why thingst happen, your range of problems you can solve grows exponentially.

 

[Oso]

The first few rows of the periodic table.

That's literally it.

Just work hard when the class starts.

 

[Oso]

I absolutely second the do not memorize!! As someone who did well in orgo, I made it a point to memorize as little as possible. Memorization limits you to a smaller subset of problems, but once you understand the reasons behind why thingst happen, your range of problems you can solve grows exponentially.

Says the world's okayest organic chemist ...

 

[V781]

I also did not use my model kit once. I liked Organic Chemistry this year and wouldn't consider it the hardest of the required courses. I don't think anything was difficult to understand. There was just a lot of information.The first part of it is conceptual. The latter part of the series is remembering a lot of reagents for synthesis (reagents and the reactions they cause)...yes, you need to memorize a lot of these.

So starting out, really make sure you understand the concepts. Understand why everything is happening. It'll help in the future whenever you're trying to work out a mechanism.


It's just important that you don't get behind. Make sure that you've finished all the reading several days before each exam so that you have time to practice. A few of the other students that did well in my class didn't bother with the book at all...I sometimes wonder if I wasted my time with it. You might do well just studying your slides, watching videos and reading the 2nd language book. If you don't understand something, refer to the book...or just go see your professor during office hours.

 

[trobinsonmd]

It's been probably a decade since I've taken ochem... that being said... ochem is kind of like learning a new language... first you have to learn all the letters, and then you learn how to spell words and make sense of it all... first learn the functional groups, then if you are super ambitious, learn the different acid/base definitions and the different reaction types... focus on building a strong foundation first

 

[Latteandaprayer]

Personally, I would just review the periodic table trends. Don’t worry about anything else. You’ll learn it all (at my school we even reviewed the PT trends).

 

[puahate]

acid and base chem
electronegativity

 

[Ad2b]

Learn how electrons flow, who dances with who. Why does a particular type of molecule break apart during an organic reaction vs. another. Why won't an SN1 work for one reaction and will for another?

Part of that is memorization and part of that is just doing problems and understanding the chemistry behind it all.

I memorized the alcohols (primary, tertiary; reagents, etc) and what removed them via which mechanism, and I did ALL the suggested homework problems. In addition, because I'm not spatially oriented, I did buy the full blown molecule kit so I could see how impossible a reaction might be due to the structure of the original substrates themselves.

ALL those bond angles, for me, were easier to understand by building the molecule. But, everyone learns differently.

My first orgo exam was all the ketone v aldehyde v alcohol v imine v amine v .... and the basics. the next exam was more mechanisms on SN1, SN2, E1, E2; the 3rd was synthesis... the final was cumulative. I A'd the first, B'd the next 2, and A'd the final (125 points on 100 point test because I nailed the synthesis in less than 10 steps).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Learn how electrons flow, who dances with who. Why does a particular type of molecule break apart during an organic reaction vs. another. Why won't an SN1 work for one reaction and will for another?

Part of that is memorization and part of that is just doing problems and understanding the chemistry behind it all.

I memorized the alcohols (primary, tertiary; reagents, etc) and what removed them via which mechanism, and I did ALL the suggested homework problems. In addition, because I'm not spatially oriented, I did buy the full blown molecule kit so I could see how impossible a reaction might be due to the structure of the original substrates themselves.

ALL those bond angles, for me, were easier to understand by building the molecule. But, everyone learns differently.

My first orgo exam was all the ketone v aldehyde v alcohol v imine v amine v .... and the basics. the next exam was more mechanisms on SN1, SN2, E1, E2; the 3rd was synthesis... the final was cumulative. I A'd the first, B'd the next 2, and A'd the final (125 points on 100 point test because I nailed the synthesis in less than 10 steps).

That is all stuff you learn in class. You absolutely do not need to teach yourself all that before the class begins.

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

I understand that when it comes to Organic Chemistry, logic is key above all else. But that's not to say there needs to be some memorizing here and there. In the final weeks before I start organic chemistry, what would be some good things to just have in my brain ready to regurgitate? I know that functional groups are one of them... What about benzene derivatives? etc...

Focus on understanding the how's and why's as opposed to memorization. Faculty can readily write exam questions that students will not get correct unless they understand the concepts. Also, when you understand things, the memorization aspects become so much easier.

 

[DameJulie]

Memorizing the functional groups would be helpful. Felt like this is the only part of ochem where you need immediate recall. This would be helpful for your MCAT too.

 

[el799]

I agree with brushing up your understanding of acid base chemistry. Also, un-learn anything your gen chem course taught you about orbitals cause the simplified gen-chem Molecular orbital theory is garbage that only hurts you. Seriously, if you really want to get ahead, go talk to a physical organic chemist about electrons and orbitals.

Also make sure you have a good idea of thermodynamics...this is what drives a lot of the chemistry that ochem students find to be "illogical"

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

If anything, I would learn the nomenclature and names of functional groups.

 

[aldol16]

I agree with brushing up your understanding of acid base chemistry. Also, un-learn anything your gen chem course taught you about orbitals cause the simplified gen-chem Molecular orbital theory is garbage that only hurts you. Seriously, if you really want to get ahead, go talk to a physical organic chemist about electrons and orbitals.

I'm not sure what they even teach in general chemistry molecular orbital theory but the things we typically teach are useful in terms of conceptualizing and understanding where electrons are in an organic molecule so you can then reason out where the most electrophilic/nucleophilic sites would be. It's also important for understanding conjugation and keto-enol chemistry, which is a huge part of organic synthesis.

Perhaps you're referring to the ligand field theory that's more applicable to inorganic catalysis?