Module 6 - Organic Chemistry and Analysis Flashcards
What is a chiral carbon atom?
It’s one which has four different groups attached to it. It’s possible to arrange the groups into two different ways around the carbon atom so that two different molecules are made - called enantiomers or optical isomers
What are enantiomers?
They are mirror images of each other and can’t be superimposed. If a molecule can be superimposed on its mirror image, it’s achiral and it doesn’t have an optical isomer
What are optical isomers?
They are optically active, they rotate plane-polarised light. One enantiomer rotates in a clockwise direction, the other rotates it in the same amount but in anticlockwise direction
What happens when a molecule has more than chiral centre?
It will have more than two optical isomers
what aldehydes and ketones?
they are carbonyl compunds. they contain the
functional group C=O. aldehydes have their group at the end of the chain whilst ketones have theirs in the middle of the chain.
what do aldehydes and ketones reduce to?
- aldehydes reduce to a primary alcohol
- ketones reduce to a secondary alcohol
what is the reducing agent for aldehydes and ketones?
- normally NaBH4 (sodium tetrahydriborate III) or sodium borohydride dissolved in water in methanol
- it has H- hydride ions, which has a lone pair of electrons. its a nucleophile which can attack the delta postive carbon on the aldehyde or ketones. (nucleophilic addition reaction)
what does hydrogen cyanide react with?
with carbonyl compounds to produce hydroxynitriles (CN+OH), its a nucleophilic addition reaction. hydrogen cyanide is a weak acid- it partially dissociates in water to form H+ and CN- ions.
describe the process of hydrogen cyanide with a carbonyl compound?
1 - the cyanide ion CN-, attacks the slightly +ve carbon atom and donates a pair of electrons to it. both electrons from the double bond transfer to the oxygen.
2- H+ from HCN or H2O bonds to the oxygen to form the OH group
what happens when brady’s reagent is dissolved in methanol and conc H2SO4?
- it will react with carbonyl groups to form a bright orange precipitate. this only happens with c=o groups, the orange ppt is a derative of the carbonyl compound.
what does each different compound produce?
- produces a crystalline derative melting point so if you measure the melting point of the crystals and compare it against known values you can identify
what is tollens reagent?
it can be used to distinguish between an aldehyde or ketone, it uses the fact that an aldehyde can be oxidised to a carboxylic acid, but a ketone cant. the reagent is colourless solution of silver nitrate dissolved in aq ammonia.
what happens when tollens reagent is used?
- when they’re heated together in a test tube, the aldehyde is oxidised and the silver ions in the reagent are reduced to silver causing a silver mirror to form.
what are carboxylic acids?
- they contain the group COOH, which is always found at the endof the molecule. they are weak acids so they partially dissociate in water to form carboxylate ions and H+ ions
why can carboxylic acids do as they’re polar molecules?
- hydrogen bonds form between the highly polarised H+ atom and O- atoms on other molecules. this makes small carboxylic acids very soluble in water - they form H bonds with H2O
how do carboxylic acids react with metals?
carboxylic acids + metal -> salt + hydrogen
how do carboxylic acids react with carbonates?
carboxylic acids + carbonates -> salt + carbon dioxide + water
how do carboxylic acids react with metal oxides and alkali?
carboxylic acid + metal oxide/alkali -> salt + water
what are acyl or acid chlorides?
they have the group - COCl, and their general formula is CnH2nOCl. their names end in -oyl chlorides
how are acyl chlorides made?
they’re made by reacting carboxylic acids with SOCl2 (thionyl chloride), the OH group is replaced by Cl
how do acyl chlorides react with water?
- they produce a carboxylic acid and HCl
how do acyl chlorides react with alcohols?
- they produce a ester and HCl
how do acyl chlorides react with ammonia?
- they produce a primary aide
how do acyl chlorides react with amines?
- they produce a secondary amide
what happens in each of the acyl chloride reactions?
- each time Cl is substituted by an oxygen or nitrogen group and hydrogen cyanide, they’re nucleophilic addition-elimination reactions
what is an ester?
its made by reacting an alcohol, with a carboxylic acid or carboxylic acid derative. the name is made up of alcohol and carboxylic acid
what happens when you heat a carboxylic acid?
if you heat a carboxylic acid with an alcohol in the presence of and acid catalyst, you get an ester, in a process called esterification. the catalyst used is concentrated sulfuric acid.
what do you have to do as the reaction between a carboxylic acid and alcohol is reversible?
- you have to separate out the product as its formed. for small esters, you can warm the mixture and just distil off the ester, as its more volatile than other compounds.
- larger esters are harder to form so its best to heat them under reflux and use fractional distillation to separate the ester.
how is a acid anydride made?
its made from to carboxylic acid molecules. acid anhydrides can be reacted with alcohols to make esters and carboxylic acid.
1 - the acid anhydride is warmed with alcohol no catalyst is needed
2- the products are an ester and a carboxylic acid which can be separated by distillation
how do acyl chlorides react with alcohols?
they react to form an ester and hydrogen chloride gas
what does acid hydrolysis do?
it splits the ester into a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. you have to reflux the ester with a dilute acid, such a HCL and H2SO4
what does base hydrolysis do?
you have to reflux the ester with a dilute alkali, such as NaOH you get a carboxylate salt and an alcohol