My Favorite Lesson #2: “....[Reaction Mechanism]....”

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Greetings distinguished and erudite educators, I am super super excited to be a part of this contest where i will be contributing to knowledge and in the process learn from other learned colleagues. Before I start, I would love to give total accolades to @fajrularifst for always ensuring that this program sees light.

In regards my favorite lessons in school, from my username one could quickly suggest that my love for chemistry is super ignite. With this, talking about my favorite lesson in chemistry would be a roller coaster journey. Though I had many lessons I fancy so well in Chemistry, One of my favorites lesson was learning about reaction mechanisms in organic Chemistry especially nucleophilic substitution reaction and the Almighty elimination reactions.

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My love for this topics was a function of how empirical molecules interactions appeared on paper. Yes, I could see how molecules interacted in the atomic level, how bonds broke and formed and how different reaction conditions such as temperature, pressure, structure etc affected the outcome of reactions. The interesting path of the lesson was the puzzle aspect where I had to unravel the path a given reaction would move base on the structure, functional group and reactivity of the substances under consideration.

Today, I tell my students that most of what I have achieved today is directly or indirectly a function of my knowledge on reaction mechanisms. Because studying reaction mechanism helped me greatly in developing strong analytical, problem solving and inquiry skills. This is evidence as I was able to scale smoothly on more complex topics such as polymer chemistry, organic synthetic among others. My success in laboratory works is what I do not wish to forget in a haste and all of this points directly to the effects of reaction mechanisms on me.

Beyond the realms of academic, my knowledge of reaction mechanisms paid greatly as I was able to apply and relate the knowledge of reaction mechanisms in solving my daily task. I knew that everything in life was ordered by laws so I try not to break the laws of nature in my dealing the same way I tried not to break certain standards in reaction mechanisms.

Mr. Benitex my reaction mechanisms tutor is the true epitome of creativity in regards teaching and relating with students. He was a passionate, patience and engaging tutor who made the understanding of His students a priority.

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I can't forget in a haste how he used stories and real world applications to relate and engage us into meaningful conversations in regards reaction mechanisms. I can still recall when he compared SN1 reaction to a Very Important Person (VIP) entering into a dance hall (Intermediate Carbocation) before deciding on who to dance with (Nucleophile attack). I am sorry if that story makes no sense to us. However, to we chemists it makes complete sense.

He went as far as describing SN2 reaction as a Common man (Nucleophile) entering into the dancing flow and immediately danced with someones dancing partner but from the opposite direction. He later landed that while the first involved two steps, the second involved just one day.

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I remember when he called me a typewriter chemist because I was fond of writing down everything he uttered during explanations. Permit me to as well mention the first thousands naira I received in the field of Chemistry just by solving a synthetic problem.

Aside from the money he gifted me, Mr Benitex addressed me as a synthetic Guru and this really grew my love for the lesson.

Despites how voluminous the lesson was, one of the key areas that captured me the most was Nucleophilic substitution reactions particularly when distinguishing between SN1 and SN2 reaction using standard yardsticks

To be honest, understanding this reaction mechanisms was highly rewarding to us especially in solving real world challenges. Ultimately, Organic Chemistry till today is more than just a topic to me and I owe Mr. Benzene a lots for giving me the foundation.

Permit me to draw the curtains as I invite the following Steemians to please share in their views