Of the nine students interviewed, three selected step 1 and six selected step 2 as the less thermodynamically favored steps in the Aldol condensation as shown in Figure . Similar arguments, as observed in the survey explanations, were used by the interviewees to account for the thermodynamic favorability. The interviewees who selected step 1 as the least thermodynamically 200 favored, reference the instability of the resulting enolate intermediate using resources including resonance, charge, and bond order. Enolates as intermediates are described as being unstable and reactive throughout discussions in organic chemistry with a similar argument being in the interview: