Molecular Visions (Organic, Inorganic, Organometallic) Molecular Model Kit #1 by Darling Models to accompany Organic Chemistry

If you search Amazon under "Molecular Visions Kit" you'll find (any given time) up to three or four of the wonderful Darling Model kits. These kits have been trashed as coming in the "wrong" container in some reviews (pictures have now been fixed, which confused the "triple" kit (organometallic / organic / inorganic) which DOES come in the green plastic box with single bag kits previously. But who cares? The point of Darling isn't just the outstanding snaps, bonds and exclusive atom shells, but the awesome and unique BOOKLETS that come with these sets, that step you through not just assembly but the chemistry, the pi's, the bonds, and MUCH more!! Unlike ANY other set (including Prentice), Darling's books MAKE these series. Stephen simply has spared no effort to EDUCATE us on what we're assembling, in painstaking detail. Which brings me to a BIG WARNING: You CAN get these kits for 10% of the price as "used"-- I got this one for $2 with an Amazon third party, and have also bought many others here for my classes (molecular biology tutorial creator). BUT: 1. DO NOT buy from a seller that states "parts may be missing." If the "part" is the booklet, you've missed out on 90% of the value of the set. In fact, I put these booklets' value at about $20 by themselves!! 2. If a seller says "like new unopened" you're usually ok. If they say "like new, just opened to check" -- EMAIL them on Amazon's system and ASK SPECIFICALLY if the booklet is there! So, here are the kits available here at this writing, each with their own booklet: Molecular Visions: The Flexible Molecular Model Kit Molecular Visions Organic Model Kit with Molecular Modeling Handbook Molecular Visions Organic Model Kit #3 [With Model PiecesWith Instruction Booklet ] Check out all three to see accurate pictures of packaging, which Amazon has now corrected, if that's important to you. Five stars on all of them, with an extra star for Stephen's well thought out booklets that teach FAR MORE than how the pieces go together, including types of bonds, aromatics, planars, his trademarked atom visions shells, acyclic molecules, Newman projections, software oriented Fisher projections, isomers, and MUCH MUCH more! NOTE: If you mistakenly get a kit without the guide/booklet, they are available on the manufacturer's website as free pdf downloads-- darlingmodels dot com-- but if your kit(s) are missing parts, you'll have to buy them!! Note also that Amazon's direct AND third party prices are all lower than the manufacturer direct! The booklets ARE different for each set. Library Picks reviews only for the benefit of Amazon shoppers and has nothing to do with Amazon, the authors, manufacturers or publishers of the items we review. We always buy the items we review for the sake of objectivity, and although we search for gems, are not shy about trashing an item if it's a waste of time or money for Amazon shoppers. If the reviewer identifies herself, her job or her field, it is only as a point of reference to help you gauge the background and any biases.

The kit is very helpful, especially if you have difficulty picturing three dimensional shapes in your head. It also helps with actually observing strains in cycloalkanes, for example. Models are a bit difficult to put together, but at least they will not fall apart so easily either. Overall, a great product for Organic Chemistry.

Cool kit. Pretty intuitive and fun to play around with. Premeds, get busy

This product arrived on time and in original packaging. This is the same model my instructor and TA's use to show us how a molecule is formed. The only reason I did not give it five stars is because once used, it is VERY difficult to put back into the original case.

The model kit works and it really helps to show the bond angles correctly; however, it's a bit hard to use as it takes at least two pieces to make one tetrahedral carbon. If need to make a double bond you need to use a separate piece as well. I also had a hard time creating a triple bond. Pieces also were a bit loose and did not hold their shape when making isomers or chair conformations. I also had a problem with just closing the box from the sheer amount of pieces. I personally am a bit biased toward the ball and stick methods, but these do just fine if your in a pinch, but I recommend you use whatever you feel comfortable with.

I bought this for an organic chemistry course. From looking at other students' models, this is the best set. They all had the same lame set from the bookstore. The users manual that comes with this is full color and about 50 pages (50 small pages that is, one page measures about 4 x 8) and is a mini chemistry course in itself. It was very helpful in showing you how to model all the different molecules you will encouter in a junior level org chem course. The set is small, yet it is engineered in such a way that you have more options than the other sets I encountered. The set comes in a hard plastic case in which all the pieces snap into place (the bookstore version sold it to you in a plastic bag!) thus saving you time when you are ready to assemble. When modeling some molecules, there is a lot of strain put on some of the pieces, and the pieces tend to become deformed. However, this set is made of a polymer that when you put the deformed pieces in boiling water, it returns to its original shape. Overall, I was very impressed with this set and highly recommend it.

This kit stands apart from other model kits in part due to its size. Each piece of this set is nice and large-- the other students in my class that bought sets from the book company all had very small sets that seemed very fragile. This was sturdy and would "click" into place. It really helped me visualize how to draw 8-membered rings from various perspectives. Just trying to visualize alone took me about 10 minutes whereas using the model only took about 2 minutes. On a test, that makes a huge difference!

It came in perfect conditions, new brand & all pieces