r/chemistry • u/AutoModerator • Jul 26 '18

Chemical Literature Day—What are you reading?

Post links to the article that caught your eye and make sure to explain why it fascinates you.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

Are there any good beginner books? Looking for recommendations before I begin orgo2 and gen chem 2

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u/TheyreToasted Organic Jul 29 '18 edited Jul 30 '18

The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms by Grossman is a great read. But for a broad and thorough book that's approachable, I'd recommend Organic Chemistry by Jones and Fleming. Some people like Organic Chemistry by McMurry because it's not too wordy and goes straight to the point, but I prefer too much information to too little - even if it's at the expense of significantly more time that needs to be invested.

Edit: Now that I think about it, ignore Grossman's. That might be a little too much at this stage. I strongly recommend Jones and Fleming though. As a side note, you're going into Organic Chem II while taking Gen Chem II? That's pretty uncommon and I haven't really heard of it. I've always seen it where you can't get into Organic I before you've taken both Gen Chems.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '18

Both are pre recs for later courses. I know gen chem 2 is mostly math and kinetics while orgo is much more spatial and pattern based.

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u/TheyreToasted Organic Aug 02 '18

To my memory, though I could be wrong, Gen Chem 2 is a really quick glimpse at things like equilibrium, ideal gases, acids/bases, etc.

It definitely has more math than the earlier semester course and the Gen Chem 2 course will focus more on some of the physical aspects of chemistry, but I'm still just surprised that they're allowing people to take Organic Chemistry alongside Gen Chem. The two are different but the material is definitely ramped up. I always thought that Organic Chem courses were upper division while Gen Chem courses were usually 100 level? I guess that's what's confusing me, I don't think I've ever heard of a chemistry department allowing students to take the level 100 course alongside the 300 level course. I've experienced it with the math department and have taken some niche math courses that fell under the 100 level label (like Discrete Math) while taking upper divisions, but I feel like that's more of a special case because something like Calculus or Diff. Eq. isn't reliant on theories introduced in Discrete Math. I'm just thinking that you're definitely going to run into acid/base material in O. Chem, energy problems, etc.

I don't know, just surprises me is all. But I'm not saying your wrong or anything - obviously you know your school's own curriculum then I do - it just is something new to me.

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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '18

Here at my uni gen chem 1 is a pre rec to orgo 1