Organic Chemistry Flashcards
conjugation
3 or more adjacent pi orbitals
aromatic compounds
have a planar structure developed
n+2 is the number of pi electrons. n can be any integer
How can you determine what is a stronger acid?
look at the stability of the conjugate base
How can you determine a stronger base?
look at the stability of the conjugate base, see what is a better acid and do the opposite
What is a stronger acid: carboxylic acid or phenol?
carboxylic acid since you can make resonance structures with the negative oxygen
carboxylic acid has a very stable conjugate base, making it a strong acid
Thermodynamic characteristics of alkanes
low melting/boiling points since they only have london dispersion forces between them
volatile
refers to molecules with low boiling points
Two ways to form alkyl halides
heating diatomic molecules to form free radicals, then the free radical will react with the hydrocarbon
or, hydrohalogenation
hydrohalogenation
addition of a halogen atom to the double bond of an alkane
Why are alkyl halides so reactive?
they possess a great leaving group (halide) and they pull electrons from carbon making carbon electrophilic
phenyl
benzene ring
How can you reduce an alkene to an alkane?
through hydrogenation, add more hydrogen
isomers
molecules that share the same formula but differ in structure
structural isomers
also called constitutional isomers
connectivity is different
have to break bonds to convert between structural isomers
tautomers
structural isomers that interconvert with one another and exist together in equilibrium
connectivity differs, this is not resonance!
example of tautomers
keto-enol tautomer
conformational isomers
how single bonds are arranged in space
rotation around a single bond can convert between conformational isomers
where should bulky constituents be placed in the most stable chair conformation?
they should be placed equatorially
geometric isomers
a type of configurational isomer
configuration around a double bond
cis/trans or E/Z
E configuration
highest priority groups are on opposite sides of the double bond
Is Z the same as cis?
no
Z refers to highest priority groups, while cis refers to the same groups. Nitpicky detail
Z configuration
highest priority groups are on same side of the double bond
enantiomers
a pair of non-superimposable mirror images
How can two molecules with multiple chiral centers be enantiomers?
if the molecules have different configurations at the same location
ex: RRS / SSR