TO THE STUDENT B efore beginning the study of organic chemistry, a few words about"how to do it"are in order. You've probably heard that organic chemistry is difficult; there's no denying that. It need not be overwhelming, though, when approached with the right frame of mind and with First of all you should realize that organic chemistry tends to"build"on itself. That is, once you have learned a reaction or concept, you will find it being used again and again later on. In this way it is quite different from general chemistry, which tends to be much more compartmentalized. In organic chemistry you will continually find previously learned material cropping up and being used to explain and to help you understand new topics. Often, for example, you will see the preparation of one class of compounds using reactions of other classes of compounds studied earlier in the year. How to keep track of everything? It might be possible to memorize every bit of information presented to you, but you would still lack a fundamental understanding of the subject. It is far better to generalize as much as possible You will find that the early chapters of the text will emphasize concepts of reaction theory. These will be used, as the various classes of organic molecules are presented, to describe mechanisms of organic reactions. A relatively few fundamental mechanisms suffice to describe almost every reac tion you will encounter. Once learned and understood, these mechanisms provide a valuable means of categorizing the reactions of organic molecules. There will be numerous facts to learn in the course of the year, however. For example, chemical eagents necessary to carry out specific reactions must be learned. You might find a study aid known as flash cards helpful. These take many forms, but one idea is to use 3 X 5 index cards. As an example of how the cards might be used, consider the reduction of alkenes(compounds with arbon-carbon double bonds) to alkanes(compounds containing only carbon-carbon single bonds) The front of the card might look like thi Alkenes alkane The reverse of the card would show the reagents necessary for this reaction: H2, Pt or Pd catalyst The card can actually be studied in two ways. You may ask yourself: What reagents will convert alkenes into alkanes? Or, using the back of the card: what chemical reaction is carried out with hydrogen and a platinum or palladium catalyst? This is by no means the only way to use the cards- be creative! Just making up the cards will help you to study Although study aids such as fash cards will prove helpful, there is only one way to truly master the subject matter in organic chemistry-do the problems! The more you work, the more you will learn. Almost certainly the grade you receive will be a reflection of your ability to solve problem Back Forward Main Menu TOC Study Guide Toc Student OLC MHHE WebsiteTO THE STUDENT Before beginning the study of organic chemistry, a few words about “how to do it” are in order. You’ve probably heard that organic chemistry is difficult; there’s no denying that. It need not be overwhelming, though, when approached with the right frame of mind and with sustained effort. First of all you should realize that organic chemistry tends to “build” on itself. That is, once you have learned a reaction or concept, you will find it being used again and again later on. In this way it is quite different from general chemistry, which tends to be much more compartmentalized. In organic chemistry you will continually find previously learned material cropping up and being used to explain and to help you understand new topics. Often, for example, you will see the preparation of one class of compounds using reactions of other classes of compounds studied earlier in the year. How to keep track of everything? It might be possible to memorize every bit of information presented to you, but you would still lack a fundamental understanding of the subject. It is far better to generalize as much as possible. You will find that the early chapters of the text will emphasize concepts of reaction theory. These will be used, as the various classes of organic molecules are presented, to describe mechanisms of organic reactions. A relatively few fundamental mechanisms suffice to describe almost every reac￾tion you will encounter. Once learned and understood, these mechanisms provide a valuable means of categorizing the reactions of organic molecules. There will be numerous facts to learn in the course of the year, however. For example, chemical reagents necessary to carry out specific reactions must be learned. You might find a study aid known as flash cards helpful. These take many forms, but one idea is to use 3 5 index cards. As an example of how the cards might be used, consider the reduction of alkenes (compounds with carbon–carbon double bonds) to alkanes (compounds containing only carbon–carbon single bonds). The front of the card might look like this: The reverse of the card would show the reagents necessary for this reaction: The card can actually be studied in two ways. You may ask yourself: What reagents will convert alkenes into alkanes? Or, using the back of the card: What chemical reaction is carried out with hydrogen and a platinum or palladium catalyst? This is by no means the only way to use the cards— be creative! Just making up the cards will help you to study. Although study aids such as flash cards will prove helpful, there is only one way to truly master the subject matter in organic chemistry—do the problems! The more you work, the more you will learn. Almost certainly the grade you receive will be a reflection of your ability to solve problems. H2, Pt or Pd catalyst vii Alkenes ? alkanes Back Forward Main Menu TOC Study Guide TOC Student OLC MHHE Website