How to scan organic chemistry problems on iPhone
Fill the frame with one reaction, keep lighting even, and crop away the rest of the worksheet. Organic chemistry scanners fail most often on glare, tiny bond lines, and two questions in one photo.
Why scanning org-chem is harder than scanning algebra
A skeletal structure is a thin line drawing. Wedges, dashes, plus signs on carbocations, and reagents written above an arrow are easy for a human and easy for a camera to smudge. A math solver can often recover from a blurry “2”; a mechanism solver cannot recover from a missing leaving group.
Step-by-step
- Lay the page flat under even light. Avoid a desk lamp that puts a hotspot on glossy textbook paper.
- Hold the phone parallel to the page so bonds do not skew. Portrait is fine; you do not need a document-scanner app first.
- Include the full scheme: starting material, arrow, reagents/solvent/heat, and any given product skeleton.
- Crop to one numbered problem before you send it. Neighboring structures are the #1 source of mixed-up products.
- Check the preview. If you cannot read the leaving group, neither can the model. Reshoot closer.
What is worth scanning
- Printed textbook or worksheet items
- Handwritten mechanisms (dark pen scans better than light pencil)
- Skeletal structures and reaction schemes
If the structure is tiny in a dense table, type the problem instead and add a topic hint (substitution, addition, aromatics).
Useful tips
- Increase contrast: a second photo with the flashlight off is often cleaner than a flash photo.
- For stereochemistry, make sure wedges and dashes are visible in the crop.
- If OCR of a typed reagent name fails (e.g. “t-BuOK”), type that reagent in a follow-up or in Type mode.
Common mistakes
- Photographing a whole page “just in case.”
- Shooting at an angle so rings look like ovals and cis/trans is ambiguous.
- Cutting off reagents written above the reaction arrow.
- Assuming any chemistry homework scanner understands org-chem mechanisms. Many general chemistry apps are built for stoichiometry, not SN1 vs E2.
How Organic Chemistry AI helps
The home screen is built around Scan Problem: point the camera at a printed or handwritten problem, skeletal structure, or reaction scheme, then crop. Prefer the keyboard? Type the problem and add a topic hint. A typical solve takes under 8 seconds. Images are not stored server-side; history stays on the device. No account is required.
FAQ
Can I scan handwritten organic chemistry homework?
Yes. The listing covers printed or handwritten problems, skeletal structures, and reaction schemes. High-contrast ink is more reliable than faint pencil.
What if the scan misreads a structure?
Crop tighter, reshoot without glare, or switch to Type mode with a topic hint. Then compare the named mechanism against the checklist in the SN1 vs SN2 guide.