Arthur Winter

Get a firm grasp on organic chemistry. Successfully studying organic chemistry means getting to know the elements of the periodic table and the important facts that highlight the fundamentals of organic chemistry. This Cheat Sheet shows it all.The basics of organic chemistryWhen you explore biology, you’ll find that many processes are constantly occurring in living organisms.

You won't get very far in your study of organic chemistry without the periodic table of elements and an understanding of the common functional groups (or reactive centers) that dictate how most of a compound's chemical reactions occur.Common functional groups in organic chemistryIn organic chemistry, functional groups (or reactive centers) are small structural units within molecules that dictate how most of the compound’s chemical reactions occur.

When elements combine through chemical reactions, they form compounds. When compounds contain carbon, they’re called organic compounds. The four families of organic compounds with important biological functions areCarbohydratesThese molecules consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a ratio of roughly 1:2:1.

Studying the elements of the periodic table is vital for understanding organic chemistry. So that you don't have to memorize each element, they're grouped together by their properties.

Alcohols and amines are fairly easy to identify in the IR spectrum, based on their relative locations and shapes. The first thing you'll notice is that both of these functional groups appear to the left of the C-H absorptions, which always occur between 2,800 cm–1 to 3,000 cm–1 in the IR spectrum. Absorption of alcohol.

Organic chemistry has a reputation for being a challenging course. But here’s the thing that’s often not mentioned: Organic chemistry is a subject that anyone can ace. Doing well, though, requires working not only hard but also efficiently. Here are ten practical tips on how to study as efficiently as possible so you can do well in the class.

When naming a branched alkane, after you locate and number the parent (longest) chain, you need to locate and identify all the substituents that stick off of the parent chain, and then order the substituents alphabetically in front of the parent chain. Locate and identify the substituents in a branched alkane For example, say you have a heptane molecule with two substituents coming off the parent chain — one substituent at carbon number three, and one substituent at carbon number four, as shown here.