Epoxide Ring Opening With Base
Ring-opening of epoxides with basic nucleophiles Epoxides are cyclic ethers with considerable ring strain (about 13 kcal/mol) Epoxides undergo reaction with nucleophiles under basic conditions
Read moreOn Cats, Part 4: Enantiocats
A few weeks ago we moved away from our old neighborhood where I first saw Sawhorse Cat. However a few days ago my friend Walter
Read moreMaking Alkyl Halides From Alcohols
Making Alkyl Halides From Alcohols In today’s post we show that treating alcohols with HCl, HBr, or HI (which all fall under the catch-all term
Read moreTosylates And Mesylates
All About Tosylates and Mesylates By themselves, alcohols are poor leaving groups since the hydroxide ion (HO-) is a strong base The OH group can
Read morePBr3 and SOCl2
PBr3 and SOCl2: Reagents For Converting Alcohols To Good Leaving Groups Alcohols can be converted into alkyl halides with phosphorus tribromide (PBr3) or thionyl chloride
Read moreOptical Purity and Enantiomeric Excess
All About Optical Purity and Enantiomeric Excess What is a racemic mixture? What is “optically active”, “optically inactive”, and “optically pure”. What do the terms,
Read moreMy Recent Absence, Explained With 9 Molecules
Hey folks – it’s been awhile! Let me explain. It all started very innocently. In mid November I started noticing that a little bump I’d
Read moreElimination Reactions of Alcohols
All About Elimination Reactions of Alcohols (With Acid) The hydroxyl group of alcohols is normally a poor leaving group. However, when treated with strong acid,
Read moreElimination of Alcohols To Alkenes With POCl3
POCl3 For The Elimination Of Alcohols To Alkenes Phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3) is a useful reagent for cleanly performing elimination reactions on alcohols. POCl3 converts the
Read moreAlcohol Oxidation: “Strong” and “Weak” Oxidants
Simplifying Alcohol Oxidation: “Strong” Oxidants and “Weak” Oxidants Here’s what we’ll talk about today: reagents for the oxidation of alcohols. For the purposes of introductory
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