The only way of mastering any topic in Organic Chemistry is doing lots of practice problems. And I know, seeing my students, that starting to work on a practice problem may be the hardest part as you don’t know where to start. It is difficult to visualize what where the double bond would be moved if you follow the five curved arrows crammed in one step. Here is the trick:
We are always told to think before doing something. Fair enough. But let me tell you, it is also strangely enough, that in Organic Chemistry, it is often better to draw and then think about what you did (not in the lab though). It is much easier to have a structure in front of you and check for errors and improvements.
Do the first step, take the pencil and you will see that the ball gets rolling.
You have all these Organic Chemistry Practice Problems waiting to be solved!
The alkylation of ketones is achieved through enolate intermediates, which are formed by deprotonating the alpha position (the carbon next to the carbonyl group): If you are still in the chapter on aldehydes and ketones, this may look … Read more
We have learned that activating groups are ortho, para directors, and the meta product for these benzene derivatives is obtained only in negligible quantities. To obtain a meta-substitution product, a deactivating group such as a nitro or a carbonyl group is needed. … Read more
Preparation of Aniline There are a few main ways of preparing aniline: Reduction of the Nitro Group We can add a nitro group to benzene or its derivative via a standard nitration using HNO3 and H2SO4, and then reduce the … Read more
Preparation of Phenols Phenols can be prepared industrially by a substitution reaction of aryl halides under extreme conditions: This is a type of nucleophilic aromatic substitution via a benzyne intermediate: Milder conditions suitable for laboratory preparation … Read more
Esters can be converted to alcohols by two types of reduction reactions. One is the reduction by a strong reducing agent such as LiAlH4 to a primary alcohol, and the second is the conversion to a tertiary alcohol by reacting … Read more
We have seen in many reactions that amines are quite good nucleophiles and strong bases, and therefore, sometimes, they need to be protected to allow for transformations of other functional groups. Perhaps the most common strategy to protect an amino … Read more
Amines from Alcohols Via Substitution Reactions Although amines are good nucleophiles, we cannot use them is a direct SN2 reaction to achieve the OH to NH2 conversion because the hydroxide ion is a poor leaving group. So, the … Read more
Alkenes to Aldehydes and Ketones via Ozonolysis Alkenes can be converted to aldehydes or ketones via ozonolysis, which is an oxidative cleavage reaction converting the C=C bond to a C=O bond. Whether an aldehyde or a ketone is obtained depends … Read more
To convert an alkene to an alkyne, we need to first halogenate it to prepare a dihalide, which can then be treated with a strong base such as sodium amide (NaNH2) to achieve a double elimination: A triple … Read more
Remember, earlier, we discussed the Friedel–Crafts acylation reaction, which is used for preparing aryl ketones by reacting aromatic compounds with an acyl halide in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst. Now, here is a question: how can … Read more
