Organic Chemistry II

Professor Carl C. Wamser

Chem 335 - Winter 2009

O Grignard The Beautiful

Featuring the voices of the Chemistry 335 class at Portland State University

.wav file recorded February 3, 1999 (courtesy of Conrad Hamilton)

!! Technology !! The February 15, 2006 version was recorded multiple times:

.mp3 file (courtesy of Ali Chisti)

.wav file (courtesy of Paul Tobey)

.avi (video - 29 MB) (courtesy of ?? - help me out here)

(Unfortunately, Professor Wamser's voice has not improved over the years)


The carbonyl is polarized
The carbon end is plus.
The nucleophile will thus attack
The carbon nucleus.
The Grignard makes an alcohol,
Of types there are but three.
It makes a bond
To correspond
From C to shining C.

Lyrics by Frank Westheimer (Harvard University)


The graphics: