Posts Tagged ‘steric exchange energy’

The conformation of acetaldehyde: a simple molecule, a complex explanation?

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Consider acetaldehyde (ethanal for progressive nomenclaturists). What conformation does it adopt, and why? This question was posed of me by a student at the end of a recent lecture of mine. Surely, an easy answer to give? Read on …

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Stereoselectivities of Proline-Catalyzed Asymmetric Intermolecular Aldol Reactions.

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Astronomers who discover an asteroid get to name it, mathematicians have theorems named after them. Synthetic chemists get to name molecules (Hector’s base and Meldrum’s acid spring to mind) and reactions between them. What do computational chemists get to name? Transition states! One of the most famous of recent years is the Houk-List.

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