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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2004  > April  >
Chemistry for Everyone
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Son of an Organic Chemist of Denmark
Ronald G. Brisbois
Department of Chemistry, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN 55105
Cover
April 2004
Vol. 81 No. 4
p. 502
Abstract
Once faced with structure–reactivity relationships in the context of nucleophilic substitution at sp3 carbon, introductory organic chemistry students must compare and contrast the various attributes and ramifications of SN2 versus SN1 reaction pathways. The dramatic (even melodramatic) way in which some students ask such comparative questions inspired a parody of Hamlet's famous to be or not to be soliloquy. Herein, Hamlet (the son of an organic chemist of Denmark) is the surrogate of any and every student as he uses a thoroughly Shakespearian approach to sorting out some of the key distinguishing features of SN2 versus SN1 reactions.
More Information
*  Citation
 Brisbois, Ronald G. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 502.
*  Keywords
 Curriculum; Humor / Puzzles; Kinetics; Mechanisms of Reactions; Organic Chemistry; Stereochemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 March 3, 2004
February 23, 2005
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