Mechanisms are the true guts of organic chemistry and practicing them is the best way to become a card-carrying organic

[answerhappygod]

Mechanisms are the true guts of organic chemistry and practicing
them is the best way to become a card-carrying organic chemist. A
good mechanism will gracefully show you how a reaction is
happening, where is it happening, and with practice, it will allow
you to figure out why a reaction is happening. A
good mechanism:
1) Shows only 1 step at a time
2) Never involves more than three separate molecules (statistically
impossible!)
3) Shows your arrow(s) moving from the nucleophile (relatively
negative atom/space) to the electrophile (relatively positive
atom/space)
If your mechanism breaches any of those guidelines then it is
almost certainly incorrect. Mechanisms take practice and you should
write them out as much as possible to become better at them rather
than just staring at them on a reference sheet. Kinesthetic
practice is a must! If you want an A in this class it is imperative
to practice them.
For this discussion I want you to write down the
mechanism, step by step, for a nucleophilic addition of your
choosing. You could do an aldol condensation, a
Claisen condensation, a hydride reduction, or really any of your
choosing as long as they include at least 2 steps and involve the
attack of a carbonyl. To get credit for this
assignment you must: