Sunday, January 28, 2007

Reaction Mechanisms

Drawing reaction mechanisms may be the hardest part of organic chemistry. Even really smart people think that they look like gibberish at first. All they are is a diagram of where the electrons move during a chemical reaction. Arrows represent the movement of electrons. There are lots of rules that govern where electrons can move. Several good books have been written to make understanding those rules easier.

If you understand reaction mechanisms well, it makes predicting the products of chemical reactions way easier. It is a building block for understanding how enzymes work when you take biochemistry, and it is arguably the most important part of organic chemistry.

Research Experience

Getting some experience working in a real laboratory will allow you to decide if you want a research career. There are hundreds of programs that will pay you to do a research project during the summer after your second or third year of college. You must apply to most of them by February 15th of the winter before you would participate.

No comments: