 There are several ways to prepare esters, and in this lesson, we’ll go over the most common ones you’ll see in organic chemistry. The most famous is the Fischer esterification, where a carboxylic acid is reacted with an alcohol under … Read more
Acid chlorides can be reduced to aldehydes by lithium tri(t-butoxy) aluminum hydride (LiAl(OtBu)₃H):   So, why not use NaBHâ‚„ or LiAlHâ‚„ for reducing acid chlorides to aldehydes? Remember that acid chlorides are the most reactive derivatives of carboxylic acids, … Read more
We have seen in many examples how Grignard and organolithium reagents react with various carbonyl compounds such as aldehydes, ketones, esters, and more. So, let’s discuss what happens when we react a Grignard or organolithium reagent with carbon dioxide. Although … Read more
This content is for registered users only. Click here to Register! By joining Chemistry Steps, you will gain instant access to the answers and solutions for all the Practice Problems, including over 40 hours of problem-solving videos, Multiple-Choice Quizzes, Puzzles, Reaction … Read more
We have seen that carboxylic acids can be reduced with LiAlH4 and boranes to primary alcohols. We also know that esters, nitriles, and acid chlorides can be reduced to aldehydes using DIBAL or at lowered temperatures (typically -78Â oC): Â Â … Read more
Amides are the least reactive derivatives of carboxylic acids, so reducing them requires using the strong reducing agent LiAlH4. The reduction converts primary, secondary, tertiary cyclic, and acrylic amides to corresponding amines: Â Â The Mechanism of Amide Reduction by … Read more
Carboxylic acids can be reduced to primary alcohols using an excess of strong reducing agents such as lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4 or LAH). Â Â As sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is the most common reducing agent we learn about together with … Read more
Direct Conversion of Acid Chlorides to Ketones Acid chlorides also known as acyl chlorides (ROCl) can be converted to ketones in direct and indirect transformations. The direct conversation is achieved by their reaction with organocuprates (Gilman reagent – R2CuLi). Â … Read more
Preparation of Nitriles Nitriles can be prepared by substitution reactions of alkyl halides with cyanide salts: Â Â These are nucleophilic substitution reactions and we introduce the nitrile group by using the nucleophilicity of the cyanide ion. In a similar … Read more
There are a few ways of converting nitriles to amides. One of them is the sure way as it imposes no risk of your instructor counting it as invalid and taking some or all your points off. This is the … Read more
