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Vanessa
- Rate R257
- Response 1h
-
Students2
Number of students Vanessa has accompanied since joining Superprof
Number of students Vanessa has accompanied since joining Superprof

R257/h
1st lesson free
- Chemistry
- Organic chemistry
A PhD in Chemistry teaches online classes in General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry at the university level.
- Chemistry
- Organic chemistry
Lesson location
About Vanessa
I'm Vanessa Aitken. I have a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Texas at El Paso (United States), and an MSc and a BSc in Chemistry from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (Chile). I have been teaching for 9 years and have worked with more than 500 students.
I was a teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry I and II, Organic Synthesis and Organic Spectroscopy at USM from 2017 to 2022, and from 2022 I taught the Organic Chemistry laboratory at UTEP, in English, with more than 100 students per year. I have four articles published in international journals, in organic synthesis and biochemistry.
I work well with students who struggle with chemistry or who come to the subject afraid of it. I explain things as many times as needed, without rushing and without making fun of anyone's questions.
About the lesson
- BTech
- Adult education
- Undergraduate
- +1
levels :
BTech
Adult education
Undergraduate
Masters
- English
Languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Online classes in General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry I and II for university students, by video call with a digital whiteboard.
First class: I use the free 30 minutes as a planning session. We decide how many classes you need and how often, what kind of work your case needs (course content, exercises or both), and we review the course syllabus, the textbooks and the material your professor uses, so the classes follow exactly what you will be assessed on. If you prefer to start working straight away, you can add those 30 minutes to the first class: a first session of an hour and a half for the price of one hour.
General Chemistry: stoichiometry, concentration units and solutions, atomic structure, the periodic table and chemical bonding, gases, thermochemistry, chemical equilibrium, acids and bases, buffers and solubility, oxidation–reduction and electrochemistry, chemical kinetics.
Organic Chemistry I: structure, hybridisation and bonding; functional groups and nomenclature; stereochemistry and chirality; organic acids and bases; SN1 and SN2 nucleophilic substitution; E1 and E2 elimination; alkanes, alkenes and alkynes; radicals.
Organic Chemistry II: aromaticity and electrophilic aromatic substitution; alcohols, ethers and epoxides; aldehydes and ketones; carboxylic acids and derivatives; amines; enols and enolates; carbohydrates, amino acids and heterocycles.
Also organic synthesis (retrosynthesis, multistep routes, protecting groups), spectroscopy for structure determination (¹H and ¹³C NMR, IR, mass spectrometry) and lab reports.
General Chemistry is the course where most students fail, almost always for one of two reasons: gaps in basic maths, or formulas memorised without understanding where they come from. Organic chemistry goes wrong for the same reason: it can't be learned by memorising. I always work from the reaction mechanism, with plenty of exam-style exercises, and afterwards I send summaries, reaction maps and worksheets.
Suitable for students of Engineering, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Agronomy and other health sciences. I have worked with students from UV, UTFSM, UNAB, UC, Universidad de Chile and UdeC. Classes in Spanish or English.
Rates
Rate
- R257
Package rates
- 5h: R1284
- 10h: R2567
free lesson
The free first lesson with Vanessa allows you to get to know the tutor and discuss your needs and expectations.
- 30min
online
- R257/h
Details
All classes are online, so there are no travel costs. The 5- and 10-hour packages have the same hourly rate and can be used to book a block of classes in advance. For groups of 3 or more students, please inquire about the reduced rate per person.
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