Organic Reaction Animations

Organic Reaction Animations (ORA) is a compilation of more than 50 organic reactions whose pathways have been calculated and animated to help students visualize the events that occur in the most important organic reactions.

Each animation is based on high-level calculations performed with the aid of the Spartan program from Wavefunction. Each reaction is represented four ways:

• ball-and-stick model
• space-filling model
• ball-and-stick model with the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) superimposed
• ball-and-stick model with the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) superimposed.

An information section provides a description of the reaction and its mechanism, and a quiz section features three to five questions, with answers, to help students interpret what they are seeing in each reaction. An energy diagram illustrates the progress of the reaction as it takes place.