Bond-line drawings reading

Now we can understand why we save so much time by using bond-line drawings. Of course, we save time by not drawing every C and H. But, there is an even larger benefit to using these drawings. Not only are they easier to draw, but they are easier to read as well. Take the following reaction for example ... 

It is somewhat difficult to see what is happening in the reaction. You need to stare at it for a while to see the change that took place. However, when we redraw the reaction using bond-line drawings, the reaction becomes very easy to read immediately ... 

Bond-line drawings are the preferred drawing style used by practicing organic chemists. In addition to being more efficient, bond-line drawings are also easier to read. As an example, consider the following reaction ... 

In Chapter 1, we introduced one of the best ways of drawing molecules, bond-line structures. They are fast to draw and easy to read, but they have one major deficiency they do not describe molecules perfectly. In fact, no drawing method can completely describe a molecule using only a single drawing. Here is the problem. 

In order to compare the structures of the compounds being discussed, we will need a more efficient way to draw the structures of organic compounds. Lewis structures are only efficient for small molecules, such as those we considered in the previous chapter. The goal of this chapter is to master the skills necessary to use and interpret the drawing method most often utilized by organic chemists and biochemists. These drawings, called bond-line structures, are fast to draw and easy to read, and they focus our attention on the reactive centers in a compound. In the second half of this chapter, we will see that bond-line structures are inadequate in some circumstances, and we will explore the technique that chemists employ to deal with the inadequacy of bond-line structures. 

Previously fatal infections have been rendered harmless by antibiotics such as the one above. Amoxicillin is not a large compound, yet drawing this compound is time consuming. To deal with this problem, organic chemists have developed an efficient drawing style that can be used to draw molecules very quickly. Bond-line structures not only simplify the drawing process but also are easier to read. The bond-line structure for amoxicillin is... 

It is certainly important to be able to read bond-line structures fluently, but it is equally important to be able to draw them proficiently. When drawing bond-line structures, the following rules should be observed ... 

Sometimes, a line drawing of a molecule, without showing any three-dimensional geometry, is used, as in 2.9. It s not ideal as it implies that the bonds around carbon point toward the corner of a square rather than a tetrahedron, but it is a layout you will encounter in your reading. The stereochemistry of the molecule may not be relevant to the reaction being studied, or we simply wish a shorthand representation for a part of the molecule that remains unchanged. 

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