I hated organic chemistry with a passion when I was in college. I hated it when I was reviewing for the chem licensure exams seven years ago. And I still hate it now, even if my job revolves around it. Surprisingly, though, I got the highest score in organic chemistry when the results of the licensure exams came out. The greatest irony of all is that I'm a biochemistry major who loathes organic chemistry, which happens to be the foundation of my field of specialization.
Of all the possible topics of organic chem, I loathe isomers the most. Perhaps it's because of the fact that my visualization skills are almost zero and I can't mentally twist a molecular structure to save my life. I have to draw the structure on paper, or use some computer software to make my task easier and less traumatic.
To my everlasting horror, my new job has compelled me to review and recall the basic concepts that I despised so much, particularly isomers. I'm therefore currently befriending E, Z, R, S, cis and trans - terms used to differentiate compounds with the same molecular formula but with different arrangements. And it turned out to be quite interesting, as I can now appreciate the gibberish and its purported significance. Learning to distinguish one isomer from another is actually fun and I'm starting to enjoy drawing them using special software (of course) and naming them using the same software.
And so I'm learning and learning about things that I'm supposed to have down to an art by now. Who knows, perhaps I'll love org chem enough to specialize in it for my PhD. :))
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