About "A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms"
Professors
"A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms" is an ancillary workbook to an organic chemistry textbook. It contains examples of the most common reaction mechanisms found in an introductory organic chemistry course. There are over 200 examples in 18 chapters. The book is ideal for guided inquiry teaching. The book is suitable for small classes and students working in groups or large classes with students working individually.
The book was written with the notion that we learn from patterns. Therefore, it is organized by mechanistic similarity and by repeating patterns, students learn them. It also contains an extensive index for use with functional group based books. The index includes preparation and reaction of various functional groups.
Using the book, I improved my class average by 20 percentile points on the ACS Organic Chemistry Exam. Students could solve mechanism problems because the problems are broken into short logical steps that all students can master. The performance of low and high achieving students were all improved.
Click to earn more about the Official NSF supported POGIL program, events, or results.
Contact me if you would like to collaborate on an NSF CCLI grant for new teaching methodologies.
"A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms" is an ancillary workbook to an organic chemistry textbook. It contains examples of the most common reaction mechanisms found in an introductory organic chemistry course. There are over 200 examples in 18 chapters. The book is ideal for guided inquiry teaching. The book is suitable for small classes and students working in groups or large classes with students working individually.
The book was written with the notion that we learn from patterns. Therefore, it is organized by mechanistic similarity and by repeating patterns, students learn them. It also contains an extensive index for use with functional group based books. The index includes preparation and reaction of various functional groups.
Using the book, I improved my class average by 20 percentile points on the ACS Organic Chemistry Exam. Students could solve mechanism problems because the problems are broken into short logical steps that all students can master. The performance of low and high achieving students were all improved.
Click to earn more about the Official NSF supported POGIL program, events, or results.
Contact me if you would like to collaborate on an NSF CCLI grant for new teaching methodologies.
Students
If you have found yourself lost in understanding reaction mechanisms, then "A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms" can be an excellent solution for you. Problems are written in a manner that are easy to understand by breaking them into shorter problems and by presenting the same problems at different levels of difficulty.
In Part A, the problems teach you the logic of the reaction. You can deduce which electrons have moved to form or break the new bonds in the products. This teaches you the logic of the reaction.
In Part B, the same problem is repeated with every other intermediate or product removed. It is the same problem but each mechanism is a series of short problems. If you knew the logic of the reaction from Part A, then you can supply the missing information.
In Part C, the same problem is again repeated. All intermediates are removed, but the reaction arrows are retained so you repeat the same intermediates. If you could do Part B, you should be able to do Part C.
Part D is the complete solution. Also the book has been written so the same problem is found in the same place on the same page in each part for easy navigation.
If you have found yourself lost in understanding reaction mechanisms, then "A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms" can be an excellent solution for you. Problems are written in a manner that are easy to understand by breaking them into shorter problems and by presenting the same problems at different levels of difficulty.
In Part A, the problems teach you the logic of the reaction. You can deduce which electrons have moved to form or break the new bonds in the products. This teaches you the logic of the reaction.
In Part B, the same problem is repeated with every other intermediate or product removed. It is the same problem but each mechanism is a series of short problems. If you knew the logic of the reaction from Part A, then you can supply the missing information.
In Part C, the same problem is again repeated. All intermediates are removed, but the reaction arrows are retained so you repeat the same intermediates. If you could do Part B, you should be able to do Part C.
Part D is the complete solution. Also the book has been written so the same problem is found in the same place on the same page in each part for easy navigation.