<p>I will continue this rather you do or not. Your misinformation (I dare say lies) or misguided opinion will mislead the prospective freshmen on here into thinking Soria is easy. It simply isn’t true for them to go in thinking that they can just “memorize” for his exams. They will be really sad in the course if they take that approach. Boosting Weinschenk’s class does them no good. Telling what I know about it does. Clearly my take on it is more valid because I’ve taken the course and have TAed for it. </p>
<p>Memorization: Really, how come I didn’t memorize them? How the hell can you memorize mechanisms that you’ve never seen before, which are often asked on his exam. You haven’t seen the exams, or else you should have known better before making such a claim. I mean, how the heck do you synthesize a giant drug (synthesis probs. in W’s class aren’t important as the mechanisms. Soria’s class makes all of it important) through memory? How do you explain how a drug works using memorization? How do you explain how different reagents alter stereochem/regiochem and the overall mechanism through memorization? Again, we’ve never seen it before. Unless you’ve legit seen an exam or have tried to do harder problems on the exam, your opinion is useless and highly misguided. I’ve seen and attempted W’s problems with my friends (trying to help them). It usually was of the same caliber or less difficult. </p>
<p>HOMO-LUMO: You underestimate me and other students in organic chemistry. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You do not need to know what orbitals interact. You need to know how electrons (which is what a mech. is about) flow. MO theory is just a model used to explain the interaction of the molecules. You know better and I definitely know better. As a person who took a difficult graduate level bio-organic course, I know that I did not need to know how HOMO-LUMO works to know what a reasonable mechanism is and how to elucidate and propose them. Look up research papers on mechanism elucidation, and notice how they don’t achieve a working knowledge of it through MO theory. They instead use isotopic labelling among several techniques. The mechs. are then determined based upon approximations of how electrons flow. Surely one does not have to know HOMO-LUMO to understand how NADH or FMN molecules may work. Simply observe all of the resonance structures possible, assess what task they perform, and propose something.
Maybe they didn’t take it when Soria was teaching both semesters. Also, if so, they wanted to come in because 221/222 had a more compatible teacher to their needs. Ask any of the freshmen from the past year (or the one before) if they found the class easy and you will be proven wrong and perhaps scolded. The fact that you refuse to look at the exams indicates your level of denial or unwillingness to be proven wrong. Both teachers (Soria and W) are regarded as two of the most difficult professors at Emory. You know this man. Get real. My friend told me how W actually even hinted that Soria’s class was a tad harder when he asked if he wanted Soria or W. for orgo (he was a freshmen). Weinschenk essentially: Said, you come to my class if you “want to have fun”. Both profs. recognize how difficult each other is and has a mutual respect.</p>
<p>You do realize that HOMO-LUMO= an orbital analysis of electrophiles and nucleophiles, right? If you know either, and understand charge distribution and resonance, you can propose a reasonable mechanism w/o knowing in context of both. The only exception is things such as stereo electronic effects which are best explained via orbitals, but again, the freshmen know this and are expected to have a working knowledge of it on the exams. Also, Weinschenk hardly does HOMO-LUMO second semester because of the influx of new students. Did you find yourself suddenly having to memorize mechanisms for 222 (my friends in W’s class did not, despite the HOMO-LUMO being missing. And this even goes for those who had someone else first semester)? If not, strike down your reasoning or realize that you don’t know how to do, or much less, the point of a reaction mechanism/arrow formalism.</p>