Organic Chemistry: Pushing Electrons
Scientists desire to solve complex problems with exact precision, but sometimes it just is not practical. Simplifying is necessary. For the organic chemist, one form of simplifying is the idea of pushing electrons. To illustrate, high school physics instructors introduce the concept of massless strings and frictionless pulleys. No such things exist. Still, this fiction enables the beginning student to isolate what is important. Spark Notes informs us that college entrance examinations generally employ such contrivances. Constructs, Artifices, Contrivances Physicists are not the only ones to employ constructs and contrivances to simplify problems and arrive at an answer. The organic chemist must understand very complex compounds and the reactions leading to their formation. One of the best known contrivances is that of pushing electrons or pushing arrows. The great thing…