r/chemhelp • • Aug 31 '26

Discussion Start of term check-in

9 Upvotes

Hello all!

School terms are beginning and this is typically when we see an influx of posts asking for general advice, guidance on getting through a class, or seeking assurance that everything will be okay. Let us know what courses you are in this term, your biggest concerns, or whatever may be on your mind!

Best of luck!


r/chemhelp • • Aug 21 '25

Announcements New Ownership

21 Upvotes

Hello fellow Chemists! I just wanted to introduce myself as the new head mod of this subreddit. A little about myself: I am a PhD Candidate in Chemical Biology. For me, this means that 60% of my work involves organic synthesis and the other 40% is applying my novel compounds to mammalian cells. Specifically, I am interested in early detection of diseases. In addition to my research, I have TA'd for both general and organic chemistry labs and have been tutoring students in organic chemistry for three years. Aside from my academic qualifications, I am also a moderator for another rather large subreddit. I saw that this sub needed a little bit of updating, but it did not seem like the moderators were active any longer. So, I gained ownership through r/redditrequest. I did not realize it would remove all the other moderators, but alas here we are.

Overall, I feel like this sub is fairly self-regulating. I frequently see good discussions and people generally are following the already existing rules. With that said, there are some changes I was considering, and would love input:

  1. New rule prohibiting commenters from solving the problem for the OP. To enforce this, the violating comment can be reported and removed by moderators. I don't see this happen often, but I have seen it occur and put an end to an otherwise good discussion thread.
  2. Mandate students include their work in their submission. Frequently, students post a picture of the question, with no work done and the caption "help please." Then in the comments you end up with people asking the OP to show their work, but from what I have seen they seldom do so. Mandating that students show work would entail removal of low effort posts by moderators. This may not be necessary since generally, commenters request more info from OP anyways, but was curious if people would like to see more enforcement on this end.
  3. What do you want to see? Those are the immediate things I was considering adding, but I would love to know if there is anything else people may want to see. I had other ideas, but I don't want to complicate a sub that I feel is already doing pretty well. Please let me know your ideas, I would love to hear them. Talk to you all soon!

Note: Please do not reach out to me about becoming a moderator. I will looking into recruiting in the near future. For now, I just wanted to get oriented.


r/chemhelp • • 5h ago

Organic Can someone explain this step of a Carboxylic Acid/SOCl2 reaction?

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10 Upvotes

I dont see why the molecule would kick off the oxygen as it seems pretty stable and kicking it off creates an unnecessary positive charge

Additionally, im seeing an alternate mechanism online where the alcohol oxygen is the one that attacks, is that one also valid?


r/chemhelp • • 4h ago

General/High School I don't understand the definition of Gibbs free energy

4 Upvotes

Like I get that from the result we can determine if a reaction is spontaneous or not, but the definition in my textbook says "maximum amount of work a system can do as it approaches the end of the reaction." What does it mean by maximum amount of work? Other definitions are saying how much usable energy is left, which I don't really understand either.

I always assumed it to be how much energy is used during the reaction, but its wrong? If anyone could dumb it down, or just explain it in different terms it would help.


r/chemhelp • • 8h ago

Inorganic Electron count a zinc compound?

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4 Upvotes

I've been trying to electron count this in the covalent method, but I'm getting differing search results on whether to consider Zn(0) as 10 or 12 electrons, based on whether the 4s2 electrons are included. I assume the 4N donate 2 each and triflate is an x type ligand.


r/chemhelp • • 2h ago

Other General Chemistry Question help/Chem1411/Chem1311

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0 Upvotes

I need help solving these questions and or guidance. Any help is appreciated thank you.


r/chemhelp • • 4h ago

General/High School can anybody help me with this practice question?

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1 Upvotes

My teacher doesn’t post answer sheets so I am unable to double check my work. Any help is appreciated, thank you!! I ended up with 653.838 kPa


r/chemhelp • • 17h ago

Other Is my textbook wrong? (highlighted sentence)

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5 Upvotes

r/chemhelp • • 7h ago

Inorganic What could this compound be?

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0 Upvotes

I attempted to synthesize cobalt(II)acetylacetonate but my compound looks very different from it. I posted the procedure and a somewhat failed IR spectrum. Any ideas what it could be?

Edit: I prepared solutions for UV spectroscopy and the compound dissolves well in ethanol. The solutions were initially deep purple but turned olive green over a few weeks. This has me suspecting it could be cobalt(III) acetylacetonate but my solid did not change in color.


r/chemhelp • • 7h ago

General/High School dot and cross diagram of a SO4 2- ion

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1 Upvotes

r/chemhelp • • 14h ago

Organic Can someone please help me highlight the isoprene units? I am so lost and keep coming up with extra carbons

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3 Upvotes

r/chemhelp • • 8h ago

Organic what would be the nitrogen group in glyphosate?

1 Upvotes

i don't know much about chemistry and i find myself translating a text about it into spanish. to find the spanish term for "nitrogen group" is gonna be another issue, but firstly i would just like to understand what the "nitrogen group in glyphosate" would refer to

so far i found two possible definitions:

-the functional groups that contain nitrogen that are present in glyphosate (if this is so, please tell me which ones they would be!)

-the elements that are part of the nitrogen group which are contained by glyphosate (which i believe would only be N and P)

if it saves anyone a google search the formula for glyphosate is C³H⁸NO⁵P (pretend the numbers are at the bottom)

for some additional context, this is not actual work. i am studying translation and this is an exam.

this is the original article: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/glyphosate-poisoning-everyone?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.ar%2F


r/chemhelp • • 12h ago

Organic Help with mechanism forming 3-5-dimethylpyrazole from hydrazine sulphate

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2 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’ve been tasked with proposing a mechanism for an upcoming lab for the synthesis of 3-5-dimethylpyrazole using hydrazine sulphate.

After much research I’ve managed to come up with this mechanism in the picture, which looks right to me. However 3-5-dimethylhydrazine has a hydrogen attached to one of the nitrogen’s and mine doesn’t. Any help understanding where I’ve gone wrong will be much help, thank you!


r/chemhelp • • 16h ago

Need Encouragement Crisis of confidence in chemistry

1 Upvotes

took a 3 year gap trying out non academic path in the middle of high school but eventually came back to academia and choose chemistry as my major as out of all the major this is the most established and job ready one, but its the best of the worst, and this stops me from properly putting in efforts, i guess i will research about the job market in real life, but still the faculty expects me to make chemistry my whole life's goal when i just do not have the enthusiastic about life, this undergrad is like backup for me,

how to have the confidence to accept this as a thing i can do passively? not avoidantly but passively, i keep chasing perfection thinking i shall know and understand everything in my chemistry lab handbook from every sign to word, but before an exam all that works is a summary from ai about what the syllabus actually is about and wants me to know, yet still the crisis of confidence keeps me from making me know everything from basic


r/chemhelp • • 19h ago

General/High School Online Chemistry Classes for Class 11-12 & JEE | JEE Qualified

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm currently pursuing my Master's in Chemistry at NIT Durgapur.

I'm looking to teach Chemistry online to students in Classes 11 and 12, as well as JEE aspirants.

My focus will be on building conceptual clarity, understanding the logic behind reactions, and solving problems systematically rather than just memorising

facts.

What I can help with:

Class 11-12 Chemistry

JEE Main Chemistry

JEE Advanced Chemistry

Concept building, problem-solving and doubt-clearing

I want to keep the classes interactive and adapt the teaching pace to each student's needs.

If you're interested, please DM me with your class, target exam. We can discuss the class format, schedule and fees.

Language:Hindi, English

Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks for reading


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

General/High School tarea de química (esp)

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3 Upvotes

Tengo que hacer esta tarea de química sobre cinética y velocidad de reacción, la profesora puso este ejercicio pero creo que se equivocó al redactarlo, o no sé si yo estoy mal. En el texto dice que “La luminosidad de la barrita dura más tiempo en el recipiente que está a mayor temperatura” pero según yo es al revés, no? Teóricamente, la luminosidad debería durar más en la barrita que está en agua con menor temperatura, el frío retrasa la reacción y por lo tanto dura más. Estaba escribiendo mi respuesta cuando me di cuenta de eso y me estanqué aquí. Alguien que sepa de esto me podría ayudar y corregir si estoy mal?


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

General/High School Homework Help - Lewis Structures

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0 Upvotes

Is this the correct “skeleton” for starting the Lewis structure? My friend looked at it and said that the bottom carbon needed 2 hydrogen (which I added) but why would it specify (HO) so only one hydrogen if I needed to add 2 for carbon to have its 4 bond? Sorry if this is a dumb question I’m obviously not a chem major 😂 any help is appreciated! Thanks


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

Organic Orgo 2 Exam Strategy

3 Upvotes

I’m currently taking Orgo II and haven’t done as well as I’d hoped on the first two exams. I’m sitting at a C+ and feeling pretty discouraged.

I feel like I understand the material when studying, but it’s not translating to my exam scores. The sheer volume of reactions and information we’re learning is starting to feel overwhelming, especially as we continue building on previous material.

I’ve put together a reaction notebook, but I’ll admit I could be more consistent with daily practice and may be cramming more than I realize. I’m wondering if I need to change my approach to studying altogether.
With three exams remaining, I’d really like to turn my grade around and finish strong. I’d genuinely appreciate any advice on managing the volume of material, retaining reactions, and preparing more effectively for exams!


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

General/High School Looking for any feedback on advice for Gen chem issues. Thank you

1 Upvotes

Hello. I went back to school for pre med pre reqs so I haven’t took chem in 10 years. This honestly was more of a learning curve than I thought for chemistry. Anyway my first exam I got a 64. Bad I know. I can still get a pretty good grade in the class with the remaining work. We have our next exam November 6th so I have 3 full weeks for 3 chapters. (4-6). Here’s the dilemma of course I’m behind which has been the case in chem all year. Like I feel like I get discouraged super easily, ADHD or something but it’s not fully clicking. I’ve been using chads prep, SI, the free tutor available at the school and idk why it’s just frustrating. It’s annoying too because I know this stuff is suppose to be the “easy” chem work and I just don’t know what’s going on

Anyway the chapters topics on our next exam are
Types of reactions
Balancing equations
Net ionic equations (I think this is oxidation and acid base reactions?)
Stoichiometry
Limiting reactants
Theoretical and percent yield
Redox and finding electrons transferred
Calorimetry
Hess law
Heats of formation

So there’s about ten topics or so?? Give or take. I just feel like so overwhelmed because my foundation is not strong to begin with. I haven’t fully memorized polyatomic and acids with I believe I need to know for balancing and oxidation? Are there any good YouTube videos on these topics? Like is 3 weeks even enough time to get this down if I really try to put my head down here.


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

Other Someone said silicone polymers are plastics too

0 Upvotes

How is that possible. Isn’t silicone and plastic too different materials.


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

General/High School Need some guidance on approaching acid-base question

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3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! One of my friends is taking gen chem 2 and I wanted to help her out with this question but I'm pretty rusty on the course material. I was wondering what the general steps to approach this problem would be? Off the top of my head, I was thinking; 1.) Double replacement to make new equation 2.) Make ICE table to solve for missing concentrations 3.) Plug x values into new equation to get concentrations 4.) Take new concentrations and make ice table with original equation, then solve for x again


r/chemhelp • • 1d ago

Need Encouragement How to do better in organic chemistry

5 Upvotes

I just had my first organic chemistry midterm and I’m feeling super defeated. Everyone I’ve talked to said that they also found the exam super challenging, but as a high achiever, I’m super disappointed in myself. The exam was much more difficult than the practice problems and exams. I probably should have started studying earlier, but I learned all of the content, made notes and studied them, did all my problem sets and understood them , did practice exams and did well on those. It felt like everything I studied left my brain as soon as I started the exam. I know I made so many dumb mistakes that I haven’t made before, like saying a lone pair could do resonance with a double bond when in reality the lone pair was too far away from the double bond, saying a chiral centre was R instead of S, etc. it took me so long to do each question, and I still did them wrong. I don’t think I’m able to recognize patterns fast enough. I can’t predict products of mechanisms without drawing out the whole mechanism, I can’t recognize if two molecules are resonance structures without actually doing the resonance, and I feel like most people don’t have to do this. There was one question where we were given the products of the reaction mechanism and chemical formula of the reactant and we had to draw what the reactant looked like and I cannot do those types of problems for the life of me. I have a visuospatial learning disability, so that definitely makes organic chemistry more challenging for me, but I’ve been able to do very well in other subjects that require visuospatial skills, like math and statistics. I have never felt so stupid in my life lol. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve/solve problems faster? Or any good resources that provide tricky practice problems?


r/chemhelp • • 2d ago

General/High School organic chemistry help

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2 Upvotes

guys i’m so confused how does 2-pentyl butanoate make sense. I have no idea how to draw it bc i thought we didn’t have to number esters. I would appreciate any help, i’m in a grade 12U class


r/chemhelp • • 2d ago

Organic Could someone help me out on this? Does the statement of high regioselectivity imply to only consider the major product? Currently learning stereochemistry. Does the answer I put work?

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2 Upvotes

r/chemhelp • • 2d ago

General/High School I don't understand my honors chemistry work

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1 Upvotes