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Organic chemistry is pretty much everywhere! In this episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry, we’re talking about the amazing diversity among...

Language is complicated, especially in organic chemistry. This episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry is all about nomenclature. We'll dive into...

Oxygen is pretty dang amazing! Some of the most intensely studied functional groups in organic chemistry have oxygen atoms. In this episode of Crash...

The organic molecules that make up life on Earth are more than just the 2-D structures we’ve been drawing so far. Molecules have 3-D shapes...

It’s time for molecular analysis! On this episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry, we’re learning about mass spectrometry and infrared...

Alkanes are kind of the wallflowers of organic chemistry, but they still have important functions in the world around us. In this episode of Crash...

Hexagons appear all over the natural world from honeycomb to bubbles, and they even appear in organic chemistry! In this episode of Crash Course...

The shape of molecules is super important to life as we know it. In this episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry we’re learning about...

Enantiomers have almost all the same chemical and physical properties, so it can be tough to separate them. But it’s still super important that...

We’ve all heard the phrase “opposites attract.” It may or may not be true for people, but it’s definitely true in organic...

Acidity is a tricky concept, and it’s not always like how we see it in the movies. As organic chemists, we need to know how to predict the...

Organic reactions are kind of like carefully choreographed fight scenes, and nucleophilic attack is a key move. This episode of Crash Course Organic...

When we venture to new places, we need navigational tools to guide us. In organic chemistry, those are reaction mechanisms! In this episode of Crash...

Alkenes are an important type of molecule in organic chemistry that we’re going to see a lot more of in this series. But before we can really...

In organic chemistry, different reactions can take place at vastly different speeds. To better understand whether a reaction actually will happen,...

Like a trendy dance, a fighting combo, or a secret handshake, organic reactions can be broken down into simpler steps. In this episode of Crash...

Oxidation-reduction reactions are going on around us, and inside us, all the time, and we can make redox reactions in organic chemistry easier to...

Carbon-carbon double bonds are pretty common in nature, but triple bonds between carbons, called alkynes, are not. When alkynes do pop up in nature,...

Throughout this series we’ve mostly talked about pairs of electrons, but electrons don’t always have a buddy. An atom or group of atoms...

Substitution reactions can have really powerful effects, both good and bad, in our bodies. You might remember substitution reactions as displacement...

We’ve already learned a bit about substitution reactions in organic chemistry and the two different paths they can follow: SN1 and SN2. In...

We’ve spent the last few episodes talking about substitution reactions, but now it’s time to talk about a related type of reaction:...

Organic chemistry isn’t that different from an adventure game, with substrates as characters, nucleophiles as magic potions, and reaction...

What comes to mind when you think of alcohol? Probably alcoholic drinks like beer or wine. But in organic chemistry alcohols are an important and...

Even though all living things have a lot in common, different organisms can have very different reactions to the same organic chemicals. That means...

If you were given a chemical and told to identify it, how would you go about doing that? You could look at different factors like color, boiling...

Ketones and aldehydes are all around and inside us, from the strong smelling component of nail polish remover, acetone, to hormones in our bodies, to...

Have you ever wondered why the gas station has “unleaded fuel” but there isn’t a “leaded” option? The answer has to do...

We’ve already learned the basics of carbonyl chemistry and talked about how we can synthesize aldehydes and ketones, but there’s still so...

What do the smells of feet, armpits, vomit, and goats all have in common? (Besides being super gross…) Carboxylic acids! Despite being...

Esters have a wide range of uses, from giving perfumes and colognes their fragrances, to preventing diseases like scurvy. Vitamin C, that scurvy...

We get it, learning so many different organic reactions is probably giving you a headache, but hopefully this episode can help! We’re getting...

Things have been getting more and more complicated here in Crash Course Organic Chemistry, and as we deal with more complex molecules, parts of...

As we construct more complex organic molecules, it can start to feel like decrypting a complex code. Organic synthesis takes simple starting...

So far in this series we’ve focused on molecules with tens of atoms in them, but in organic chemistry molecules can get way bigger! Polymers...

If you’ve been paying attention so far in this series, you’ve probably heard of benzene. This molecule is flat, cyclic, and belongs to a...

We’ve talked about benzene a bit already in this series, but did you know that benzene rings are present in all kinds of familiar substances?...

In the previous episode we discussed what happens when we use electrophilic aromatic substitution to add a group to a benzene ring, but what happens...

We’ve already learned a lot about electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) and benzene, but guess what? There’s even more to learn! In...

We’re going back to the lab! So far we’ve learned some important lab techniques that organic chemists might use day to day, like...

Carrots get their orange-y color from, you guessed it, an organic chemical. This chemical, called beta carotene, gets its pigment from its conjugated...

Going out in the sun can work wonders for your mood, but unfortunately too much UV exposure can do serious damage to your DNA. This damage occurs...

You may know that cows produce methane, which is a big concern when it comes to global heating, but did you know that organic chemistry provides a...

Organic chemistry is a great workout for your brain, and to keep its energy up, your brain needs glucose. To maintain blood glucose levels, our...

Insects can communicate with each other about all kinds of things, but instead of using words, they use… you guessed it! Organic Chemistry!...

Did you know that the fishier a fish smells, the longer it’s been out of the water? This is due to a chemical called trimethylamine, which is...

Have you ever wondered where cured meats like salami or pepperoni get their bright red color? Of course its from organic chemistry! A chemical called...

Although we've spent a lot of time in this series looking at human-made organic chemicals, the term "organic chemistry" was originally used to...

You might think a self regulating factory sounds pretty unbelievable, but that’s pretty much exactly how our bodies work! Our bodies are full...

These days, we don't have to worry too much about meeting an early demise from ulcers, breaks in the stomach lining that could be fatal back in the...

A nine part television series, produced by J.C. Crimmins for PBS. Music composed, arranged and performed by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. The stated...

Hank does his best to convince us that chemistry is not torture, but is instead the amazing and beautiful science of stuff.

Yaemori Alice is a chef with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) whose favorite phrase is “Cooking is chemistry.” She’s not good at...

Continental Classroom is a series of college credit courses that ran on NBC from October 6, 1958 to 1963.

In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere. She accepts a job...