Did someone say benzyne?
When students study Organic Chemistry via the two semester system, they really don’t get the opportunity to “understand” it until the second semester, when the course takes upon an emphasis of organic reaction mechanisms. The systematic learning Organic Chemistry is very much like learning a language. One first needs to memorize the vocabulary, then comes the proper use of verbs. The third step involves assembling coherent sentences from words. Natural flow of sentences not involving “interpretation” marks the student’s budding ability to “think” in terms of the language. Finally, there is fluency which can also be accompanied by dreaming in the language.
