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!
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
This is a summary practice problem set on organic acids and bases. The questions cover: The definition of organic acids and bases, as well as conjugate acids and bases, drawing acid-base mechanism, acid and base strength based on pKa, factors … Read more
Although amines are considered weak bases, in general, their presence in neutral organic molecules makes the basic sites in those structures because they are stronger bases and nucleophiles than other neutral organic compounds. For example, in DNA, there are aromatic … Read more
Preparation of Thiols Thiols (RSH) are prepared by relying on the high nucleophilicity of sulfur. For example, the reaction of sodium hydrosulfide with unhindered alkyl halides is the most common approach for preparing thiols. Because of the high … Read more
Thiols are sulfur analogues of alcohols, containing an SH group in place of the OH group. When naming a thiol, we follow the same rules we discussed earlier for the IUPAC nomenclature rules for alcohols, with the focus on giving … Read more
In the previous post, we talked about the Hofmann reaction where amines are converted into quaternary ammonium salts and later to alkenes. Remember, amines, and especially the conjugate bases of amines, are strong bases and therefore, they are poor leaving … Read more
