Visual-Spatial Skills, Strategies, and Challenges to Extract, Represent, and Predict Stereochemical Outcomes of Cycloadditions Using a Hexagonal Prism Reference Frame
Professor Oliver-Hoyo and Dr. Emmanuel Echeveri-Jimenez developed a hexagonal prism reference model (HPRM). The model helps students recognize the essentially 3-D nature of cycloadditions such as the classic Diels–Alder reaction. The HPRM provides a resource for students to leverage their visual-spatial skills to understand the subtle nature of cycloaddition stereoselectivity that depends critically on the 3-D spatial distribution of atoms.
The HPRM model thus aids instructors by providing an alternative way of explaining the nature of the complex chemistry of cycloadditions to their students.
The paper, Visual-Spatial Skills, Strategies, and Challenges to Extract, Represent, and Predict Stereochemical Outcomes of Cycloadditions Using a Hexagonal Prism Reference Frame, appeared in the prestigious ACS Chemical Education journal published on June 15, 2023.
