Nucleophilic substitution

Organic Reactions Memory Game

Posted by Anja Mueller on Thursday, 14 June 2018

This is a game to practice all Organic Chemistry reactions.  This specific example is only for the reactions that are covered in the 1st semester of the 2-semester Organic sequence.  Basically, there are 3 piles of cards face-down on the table:  Reactants, Reagents, and Products.  The student draw a card each from 2 piles (either Reactant - Reagent, Reactant - Product, or Reagent - Product).  The student then looks at the two cards drawn and has to provide the missing element (if the reaction is possible, of course). I haven't shown all cards, otherwise the file would have become too big to

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Son of an Organic Chemist of Denmark

Author(s): 
Ronald G. Brisbois
Author Affiliation: 
Macalester College
Journal: 
Journal of Chemical Education
Year: 
2004
Volume: 
81
Pages: 
502
Abstract: 
Once faced with structure–reactivity relationships in the context of nucleophilic substitution at sp3 carbon, introductoryorganic chemistry students must compare and contrast the various attributes and ramifications of SN2 versus SN1 reactionpathways. The dramatic (even melodramatic) way in which some students ask such comparative questions inspired aparody of Hamlet’s famous to be or not to be soliloquy. Herein, Hamlet (the son of an organic chemist of Denmark) is thesurrogate of any and every student as he uses a thoroughly Shakespearian approach to sorting out some of the keydistinguishing features of SN2 versus SN1 reactions.
URL for article at publisher's site: 
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed081p502