By experimental methods, which we’ll discuss later, it has been shown that cycloalkanes are generally less stable than their corresponding alkanes. More accurately, the comparison was made between a cycloalkane and the equivalent number of CH2 groups. Recall that cycloalkanes … Read more
This is a set of practice problems on naming organic compounds. The examples cover the nomenclature of alkanes, bicyclic compounds, alkenes, alkynes, alcohols, alkyl halides, aromatic compounds, aldehydes and ketones, amines, ethers, and carboxylic acid derivatives such as nitriles, esters, … Read more
Before we start talking about naming bicyclic compounds, let’s first go over some terminology for their classification. Bicyclic compounds are a specific type of polycyclic compounds, classified as compounds that contain more than one ring with at least two common … Read more
Here are some practice problems for naming bicyclic compounds. Remember, to start numbering from one of the bridgehead carbon atoms. The numbering continues to include the largest ring towards the second bridgehead carbon, then the second-largest, and etc. (ring priority). … Read more
Naming a compound with more than one functional group is not as straightforward as it is for alkanes, alkyl halides, or alkenes. For example, how do you name a molecule that contains a nitrile and a ketone? If … Read more
Today, we will talk about a terminology that you are going to use very often in your Organic Chemistry 1 class. That is the definition of primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary carbon atoms in organic chemistry. This is also referred … Read more
Torsional and Steric Strain In the previous post, we talked about the Newman projections where we also covered the relative energies of anti, gauche, and syn conformations. The destabilization of certain conformations is due to Steric or Torsional strain. These two … Read more
In the previous post, we talked about drawing the two conformations of cyclohexane (ring-flip). Remember that conformations are different arrangements of atoms originating as a result of rotation(s) about a single bond(s). This means that the ring flip is a reversible process … Read more
Saturated and unsaturated compounds In this post, we will talk about saturated and unsaturated compounds, the degree of unsaturation (or Hydrogen Deficiency Index -HDI), and the different ways of calculating it. Let’s start with simple examples of saturated and unsaturated compounds. … Read more
Decalin is the common name for fused bicyclic compounds that consist of two six-membered rings. As you may remember from the discussion about bicyclic compounds, fusing two six-membered rings does not give a 12-atom system because there are two common … Read more
