Changing Key and Chemistry
What if chemistry’s most intimidating subject were as easy as learning to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?”
In “Changing Key and Chemistry,” a ten-minute film from Chemistry Shorts®, UCLA Professor Dr. Neil Garg shows us that organic chemistry can be understood much like music — one key, one scale, and one step at a time. Each atom in a molecule is like a note in a melody: once you learn the basic components, you can put them together in infinite combinations from the simplest molecules to the most complicated symphonies.
“Don’t fear organic chemistry. You got this… you can pick up some of the fundamentals, pick up the keys on the piano, the notes in an octave, you have what it takes to learn how to be an organic chemist. Because guess what? Students are naturally curious and creative and they’re absolutely brilliant problem solvers.”
– Professor Neil Garg
In the second act of the film, Professor Garg explains how scientists have re-orchestrated natural molecules to solve big problems. For instance, by slightly tweaking a chemical found in yew trees, scientists created the cancer-fighting drug taxol. Listening to nature with a well-tuned ear allows us to compose brand-new masterpieces.
In the final act, Professor Garg reminds us that scientific progress often begins when someone plays off script:
“And I’m always reminded, although we need to use these rules to teach students, that we also just as much teach them that these are rules based on what we know now. And without you challenging those rules, solving problems, creating things, making new discoveries, we don’t advance society.”
– Professor Neil Garg
Professor Garg’s recent headline-making work on anti-Bredt olefins showed that even century-old chemistry rules are made to be broken as we expand our scientific understanding.
In the lab, the classroom, and now the screen, Professor Garg conducts learners with excitement and passion, encouraging them to not just practice the scales of organic chemistry, but improvise beyond the score.
Learn more about Professor Garg’s work here: https://garg.chem.ucla.edu/
