Inventors are using small-scale biology and engineering to find ways to use the body's natural defenses to effectively treat cancer. National Science Foundation-funded small business GigaGen uses microfluidics, bioinformatics and genome...

The Cannizzaro reaction is pretty old, over 150 years old in fact, but it is still an important reaction in organic chemistry. It involves the disproportionation of two equivalents of an aldehyde, meaning one is oxidized to the...

Learn the basics about condensation polymerisation within the overall organic chemistry topic.

More enolate chemistry with the Robinson annulation.

Muscle Physiology: Myosin Mechanism

Naming molecules according to IUPAC nomenclature.

In addition to ligand exchange, another common organometallic reaction is oxidative addition. This commonly occurs with metals that have stable oxidation states that are two apart. Let's explore some examples of different stypes of...

Glycerol Catabolism

Here is one example in which we calculate enthalpy of reaction (ΔH_rxn).

What's butter made of? What about olive oil? Well they're lipids, which are largely nonpolar substances. Why is one solid at room temperature and the other is liquid? What are trans fats and why are they bad for you? Let's find out all...

Harder examples using the Cahn-Ingold-Prelog convention.

Learn the basics about the principle of green chemistry that considers reducing derivatives, as a part of environmental chemistry. Functional groups are the sites in a molecule where a reaction occurs. Some molecules may have more than...

We've learned about radical bromination for alkanes, but there is another method of radical bromination that can be applied to allylic and benzylic systems. This utilizes the reagent NBS, and it can be a useful synthetic technique. Let's...

Reductive elimination is essentially the opposite of oxidative addition and the products of one process can be the reactants of the other process. What conditions are most favorable to reductive elimination?

This video explains how the liver manufactures the three ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone). We will explore the biosynthetic pathway here.<br/>

Learn the basics about testing alkenes with bromine water. Why is bromine water used to test alkenes? What is bromine water made of? Find out more in this video!

This video is about the role of digestive enzymes in the chemical breakdown of large, insoluble molecules in our food into smaller, soluble ones. The video focuses on the three main types of digestive enzymes - carbohydrase, protease,...

The video is about covalent molecules, their properties and behavior. The video then goes on to discuss polymers, which are formed by the reaction of monomers with a C-C double bond. The video also discusses giant covalent structures,...

NASA-funded researchers have evidence that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a...

Naming molecules according to IUPAC nomenclature.

We know about solutions and solubility, but we have typically examined solid or liquid solutes dissolved in a liquid solvent. Did you know that gases can also be dissolved in liquids? Their solubilities depend heavily on temperature, so...

When looking at a substrate and a base/nucleophile, how do we know which one of the basic mechanisms will occur? Let's get some tips in here!

In this video, we discuss the biosynthetic pathway for vitamin D and how vitamin D exerts its functions at the gene expression level. We also explore the clinical affect of statin therapy on vitamin D levels.

This video is an educational guide about condensation polymerization, which is the process used to make polymers that form repeating units of different molecules by eliminating a small molecule, usually water. The video explains the...