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 first definition of Acids and Bases was given by Arrhenius, and according to his theory, acids dissociate in water to form protons (H+) and bases dissociate in water to form (–OH): The limitation of this theory became … Read more
Naming alkynes follows the same rules we discussed earlier for the IUPAC nomenclature rules for alkanes. This is the brief summary of the steps: Step 1. Identify the parent chain. Step 2. Identify the substituents. Step 3. Number the parent chain, giving … Read more
Alkynes Alkynes are unsaturated hydrocarbons that contain a carbon–carbon triple bond. Alkynes are unsaturated because they have fewer hydrogen atoms than the corresponding alkenes and therefore the general formula is CnH2n-2. Remember, the general formula for alkanes is CnH2n+2. That … Read more
In the previous two posts, we have talked about drawing the ring-flip of chair conformations and the A value (1,3-diaxial interactions). And we learned that for a given cyclohexane, the axial conformer is less stable than the corresponding equatorial conformer. … Read more
How to Draw the Ring-Flip of a Chair? In summary, this is what you need to do: Now, let’s go into more detail. The first thing you need to know before drawing the ring flip of a chair cyclohexane … Read more
The Chair is the most stable, most important, and common conformation of cyclohexane, so knowing how to draw it (them – there are two chair conformations), is an essential skill you will need to know throughout your journey in organic … Read more
Check Also in Elimination Reactions: Elimination Reactions of Cyclohexanes General Features of Elimination The E2 Mechanism Regioselectivity of E2 Reactions: The Zaitsev and Hofmann Products Stereoselectivity of E2 Reactions Stereospecificity of E2 Reactions The E1 Mechanism Stereoselectivity of E1 Reactions … Read more
The halogens Br2 and Cl2 add to the double bond of an alkene, producing vicinal dihalides – a compound bearing the halogens on adjacent carbons (vicinus, Latin: adjacent). These are also called 1,2-dihalides: The reaction with bromine is … Read more
The Regiochemistry of Hydroboration-Oxidation In the previous post, we mentioned that Hydroboration-oxidation places the OH group on the less substituted carbon of an alkene. Overall, it is an anti-Markovnikov hydration of the alkene, which is the regioselectivity of this reaction. … Read more
Hydroboration–oxidation converts alkenes into alcohols, with the OH group ending up on the less substituted carbon. As we will see below, there are two main parts in this conversion: the hydroboration step, which forms the intermediate alkyl borane, and the … Read more
