Study organic chemistry online
Here is a list of resources where you can learn and practise organic chemistry online, inspired by some friends who wanted practice for job interviews.
Many thanks to
Most are aimed at active researchers in the field, but some introductory resources are listed too. You can filter using the checkboxes at the top right.
I also have a Links page for other recommended chemistry/research resources.
It contains specific pages for:
Phil Baran lecture notes
Phil Baran –
- Heterocyclic chemistry
Jeff Bode open source lecture notes
Jeff Bode –
All quick references/study guides for the subject matter
- Organic synthesis
- FMO theory & pericyclic reactions
- Simple protecting groups
- Organometallics in synthesis
- Catalysis in synthesis
- Stereoselective reactions
- Ligation & bioconjugation
- Automated synthesis
- Saturated N-heterocycle synthesis
Stu Cantrill lecture notes
Stu Cantrill – UCLA
- Introduction to organic chemistry
- Introductory organic mechanisms
- Retrosynthetic analysis
- Nanoscience & novel materials
Dave Evans introduction to organic chemistry lecture notes
Dave Evans –
With appendices containing useful papers and pKa tables.
- Introduction to organic chemistry
- Pericyclic reactions
- Simple mechanisms
- Enol(ate) chemistry
Eugene Kwan lecture notes
Eugene Kwan – Merck; introductory/advanced level
- Reactivity & bonding
- Pericyclic reactions
- Simple protecting groups
- Stereoselective reactions
- Conformational analysis
- Introductory organic mechanisms
- Kinetics
- Computational chemistry
- NMR spectroscopy
- Introduction to spectroscopy
James Keeler NMR lecture notes
James Keeler –
- NMR spectroscopy
- Quantum mechanics for NMR spectroscopy
- NMR pulse sequences
- Coherence selection in NMR spectroscopy
MIT OpenCourseWare lecture notes
- Introduction to organic chemistry
- Chemical biology & biochemistry
- Geochemistry
- Materials chemistry
- Chemical engineering
- Structure determination
- Organometallic chemistry (inorganic focus)
- Astrochemistry
Andy Myers lecture notes
Andy Myers –
- Organometallics in synthesis
- Introductory organic mechanisms
- Metal-catalysed cross-coupling
- Stereoselective synthesis
- Small and normal carbocycles
Oxford University Synthesis for Biology & Medicine CDT lecture notes
Oxford University
- Stereoselective synthesis
- Catalysis
- Radical chemistry
- Heterocyclic chemistry
- Pericyclic chemistry
- Computational chemistry
- Total synthesis
- Drug discovery
- Chemical biology
- Introduction to process chemistry
- Introduction to agrochemistry
Martin Smith pericyclic chemistry lecture notes
Martin Smith –
- Pericyclic chemistry
Giovanni Poli organometallic chemistry lecture notes
Giovanni Poli –
- Palladium and organometallic chemistry
Peter Vollhardt introduction to organic chemistry lecture notes
Peter Vollhardt –
Some rather colourful introductory lecture slide sets, apparently based on Vollhardt's Organic Chemistry: Structure and Function textbook (not linked due to American textbook pricing).
Tim Wallace lecture notes
Tim Wallace –
- Pericyclic reactions
- Drug discovery
- Stereochemistry
Christina White lecture notes
Christina White –
- Organometallic chemistry
University of York Exploring Everyday Chemistry lecture course
- The chemistry of everyday
Cheminfographic
Roman Valiulin –
A collection of amazing infographics on many concepts in synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Thanks to Ed Sherer from Merck for pointing this out!
Chemistry by Design
Jon T Njardarson –
See real, step-by-step total syntheses of thousands of molecules, with the option of quizzing yourself on products, reagents, and/or reaction names.
ACS DoC: Total Synthesis Database
Hans Reich –
A database of total syntheses, filtered by named reactions.
SynArchive
Daniel Beaudoin &
Browse a long list of total syntheses, by molecule name, date, PI, or carbon count.
Ed Anderson group meetings
Ed Anderson group –
Literature topic reviews on synthetic organic chemistry.
Phil Baran group meetings
Phil Baran group –
Hundreds of information-dense slidesets and a few videos, categorized by topic.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Pharmaceutical chemistry
- Chemist biographies
- Very broad range of other topics related to organic chemistry
Scott Denmark group meetings
Scott Denmark group –
In-depth presentations generally intended as full reviews of a topic.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Other topics related to organic chemistry
Tim Donohoe group meetings
Tim Donohoe group –
An archive of short presentations from the 2010's, usually focussing on one paper or a selection of papers.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Problem sets
- Other topics related to organic chemistry
Tanja Gaich group meetings
Tanja Gaich group –
Overview slide sets offering introductions to topics and people.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Chemist biographies
- Other topics related to organic chemistry
David MacMillan group meetings
David MacMillan group –
A very diverse range of topics ranging across all fields of chemistry, biology, and physics – particularly in recent years. Great notes for introduction to very many topics.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Pharmaceutical chemistry
- Chemical biology
- Physical chemistry
- Neuroscience
- Other topics related to chemistry and biology
Princeton University supergroup meetings
Princeton University; advanced/specialist level
An archive of presentations from the 2000's.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
Richmond Sarpong group meetings
Richmond Sarpong group –
Overview slide sets offering introductions to topics and people.
- Organic chemistry
- Chemist biographies
Ryan Shenvi group meetings
Ryan Shenvi group –
Summary slide sets categorized by topic.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Pharmaceuticals
- Chemist biographies
Brian Stoltz group meetings
Brian Stoltz group – Caltech; advanced level
An archive of short synthetic chemistry topic summaries.
University of Utah Synthesis Club
Short, informative slide sets usually focussing on a single paper or a selection of papers.
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Named reactions
- Problem sets
Ed Anderson problem sets
Ed Anderson group –
Short and interesting synthetic organic chemistry problem sets.
Tim Donohoe group problem sets
Tim Donohoe group –
An archive of synthetic chemistry problem sets from the 2010's.
Tanja Gaich group problem sets
Tanja Gaich group –
Hundreds of synthetic chemistry problem sets derived from literature total syntheses.
Harvard University 'Challenging Problems in Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Dave Evans & others –
Possibly the most famous synthetic chemistry problem set, and possibly the most interesting there is!
Updated to be searched and filtered by the brilliant people at the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry.
Michigan State University introductory problems
Undergraduate level problem sets.
- Introductory organic chemistry
- Introductory organic spectroscopy
- Introductory chemical biology
Nagoya University Laboratory of Natural Products problem sets
A list of mechanism-based problem sets from the literature. Answer sets are provided separately.
NMR Challenge
IOCB Prague; introductory/advanced level
A set of interactive challenges to interpret real NMR spectra and identify the compounds depicted, from only the molecular formulae and
1H and 13C NMR spectra, or 2D correlation spectroscopy (advanced problems only). I like to set it to choose a random exercise
and try to do one per day!
Princeton University Mechanism Club
Princeton University; advanced/specialist level
An archive of mechanistic problem sets from the 2000's.
Joseph Topczewski problem sets
Joseph Topczewski –
Topic groups of mechanism problems – click through to find the answers.
Dirk Trauner group problem sets
Dirk Trauner group –
Problem sets derived from complex literature total synthesis, and ranked according to difficulty. Answers are provided separately.
University of Washington problem sets
University of Washington; advanced/specialist level
Mechanistic synthetic chemistry problems.
Yunus Türkmen group problem sets
Yunus Türkmen group –
Synthetic chemistry group meeting problems.
University of Utah Synthesis Club problem sets
Short, mechanistic, group meeting problem sets from before 2020.
Structure Elucidation Problems
Organic Structure Elucidation
Bradley Smith,
A workbook of structural determination problems, providing EI-MS, NMR and IR spectral data along with a molecular formula to elucidate the molecule. Answers are provided separately.
WebSpectra
Craig Merlic &
Structural determination problems, providing NMR and IR spectral data along with a molecular formula to elucidate the molecule. Answers are provided separately.
CU Boulder Spectroscopy Problems
CU Boulder; introductory/advanced level
A series of structural determination problems, providing NMR and IR spectral data along with a molecular formula to elucidate the molecule.
Answers are provided via links on each page.
Assorted automation chemistry videos
Various; specialist level
A link to my collection of resources for lab automation and HTE, including several video seminars.
Chris Cramer YouTube channel
Chris Cramer –
A series of videos on statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, and physical chemistry.
ChemTube3D
Nick Greeves –
Introductory animated video and interactive resources for learning organic chemistry. Inclusive of undergraduate and A level students.
Mike Evans Organic Chemistry
Mike Evans –
Hundreds of short videos on introductory topics in organic chemistry.
Imperial College London seminar videos
A historical collection of longer seminar videos from highly-esteemed academics.
JMP webinar library
JMP; advanced/specialist level
An impressive library of training webinars on DoE and data science.
Fang Liu group computational chemistry tutorials
Fang Liu –
A series of tutorials for beginner computational chemists.
MolSSI Educational Resources
MolSSI; specialist level
Workshops and tutorials on various aspects of/for computational chemistry, categorized by topic.
NSF Center for C–H Functionalization seminar videos
NSF-CCHF; advanced/specialist level
A long-running seminar series on C–H functionalization from established academics. Talks are generally ~30 min in length.
OCHeM
Thomas Poon –
An archive of quick introductory lecture videos.
- Introductory organic chemistry
- Mechanism
- Introductory organic spectroscopy
OpenChem
UC Irvine; introductory/advanced level
A full curriculum of recorded lectures for undergraduates and MS/PhD students.
- General chemistry (similar to A level)
- Introductory organic chemistry
- Introductory inorganic chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Organic mechanisms
- Spectroscopy
Scientific Update webinar archive
Scientific Update; advanced/specialist level
Archive of practically-useful training webinars from Scientific Update. For most, you only have to enter your email address to access the videos.
Synthesis Workshop YouTube channel
Synthesis Workshop; advanced/specialist level
A YouTube channel of short guest lectures on all manner of topics in and around organic chemistry.
ACS DoC data repository
ACS Division of Organic Chemistry; advanced/specialist level
A brilliantly-curated list of so many organic chemistry resources.
- Synthetic chemistry
- Spectroscopy
- Chemical data
- Videos
- Safety resources
- Education
- Lab techniques and tips
Drug Discovery Resources
Cambridge MedChem Consulting; advanced/specialist level
An amazing list of tools and resources for all stages of medicinal chemistry.
University of Dundee organic & medicinal chemistry padlets
UC Davis; advanced/specialist level
Padlets (shareable content repositories) of handy reference resources for both organic and medicinal chemistry data.
Dan Lehnherr resource list
Dan Lehnherr – Merck; advanced/specialist level
A large list of fantastic organic chemistry resources.
- Databases
- Lab tools and software
- Lecture notes
- Problem sets
Reddit crowdsourced resource list
Reddit; advanced/specialist level
A very comprehensive Reddit thread of users' favourite chemistry tools.
ROAR digital resources
Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions,
Training resources for analytical chemistry, flow chemistry, and chemistry data.
UC Davis NMR resources
UC Davis; advanced/specialist level
Training and education resources for NMR spectroscopy.