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!
In this post, we will talk about the SN2 mechanism of nucleophilic substitution reactions. As a reminder from the introduction to nucleophilic substitutions, these are reactions where the nucleophile replaces the leaving group: These reactions are divided into … Read more
The SN1 nucleophilic substitution is a unimolecular – first-order reaction: It is a stepwise mechanism that starts by breaking the bond of the α carbon and the leaving group, followed by the nucleophilic attack: As you … Read more
E/Z and Cis/Trans Alkenes In the previous post, we discussed the cis and trans designations of alkenes. As a recap, cis and trans stereoisomerism depend on whether two identical alkyl groups on the c=c bond are on the same or opposite sides of that double … Read more
Cis and Trans Alkenes Alkenes can be stereoisomeric even though this is slightly different than what we learn about enantiomers and diastereomers containing chirality centers. For example, let’s try to determine the relationship between molecules in each of the following … Read more
Naming alkenes follows the same rules we discussed earlier for the IUPAC nomenclature rules for alkanes. This is a brief summary of the steps: Step 1. Identify the parent chain. Step 2. Identify the substituents. Step 3. Number the parent chain. Step 4. … 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
Many addition reactions to alkenes are stereoselective since one (set) of stereoisomers is formed from a starting material that is not stereoisomeric. For example, the bromination of cyclohexene forms two enantiomers of trans-1,2-dibromocyclohexane. The cis-dibromo isomer is not formed, and … Read more
This is a summary practice problem of Alkyne reactions including the key reactions such as: Hydrohalogenation Halogenation Acid-Catalyzed hydration Hydroboration-Oxidation Ozonolysis Reduction to alkanes Reduction to cis and trans alkenes and others.
The benzylic position is quite reactive and presents a useful synthetic tool for preparing many aromatic compounds. The reason for this reactivity is the resonance stabilization of the benzylic carbon, regardless of whether the reaction goes through an ionic or … Read more
We have already talked about the ortho, para, and meta directions in electrophilic aromatic substitution and their combined effect for disubstituted benzene. This should allow us to synthesize different aromatic compounds starting from benzene. For example, how can we synthesize … Read more
