The Dreyfus Foundation-sponsored Chemistry Shorts® series released its newest film, “Changing Key and Chemistry,” featuring Professor Dr. Neil Garg from UCLA. Professor 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.

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 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.

The film is available for immediate viewing and use in teaching free of charge on the Chemistry Shorts YouTube channel. Teaching materials related to the film can be found at: https://garg.chem.ucla.edu/ug-education