The Conjugate Acid Is A Better Leaving Group
Adding Acid Increases Leaving Group Ability Sure, it’s one thing to recognize halogens (Cl, Br, and I) as having high leaving group ability, as well
Read moreAcid Base Reactions In Organic Chemistry
An Introduction to Acid Base Reactions In Organic Chemistry Now that we’ve described how to figure out where the electrons are in a molecule, the
Read moreInterview: “Taking Organic Chemistry Is A Great Way To Develop Critical Thinking Skills”
A few weeks ago I had the chance to interview (via e-mail) an instructor of organic chemistry at a medium-size American school, who shared her
Read moreFive Key Factors That Influence Acidity
Five Key Factors That Affect Acidity Today we’ll talk about five key factors that determine acidity for different molecules and a mnemonic (ARIO, or CARDIO)
Read moreFactors That Affect Base Strength In Organic Chemistry
Basicity In Organic Chemistry: Some Basicity Trends In this article we go through some important basicity trends in organic chemistry. (Previous article – Acidity Trends) The
Read moreOrganic Chemistry Study Tips: Reaction Maps
This time of year one of the most common problems students come to me with is how to do synthesis problems. Like this: There’s a
Read moreComparing the SN1 and SN2 Reactions
Comparing the SN1 and SN2 Reactions In nucleophilic substitution reactions, a bond between carbon and a leaving group (C–LG) is broken, and a new bond
Read moreAcid-Base Reactions: Introducing Ka and pKa
The Acidity Constant Ka (And Its Negative Logarithm pKa ) Is An Extremely Useful Measure Of Acidity So last time we went through all the
Read moreStructure Determination Case Study: Deer Tarsal Gland Pheromone
A Roadmap For Structure Determination of Organic Compounds Male black-tailed deer emit a pheromone from their tarsal gland that attracts female deer. Say you had
Read moreHow to Use a pKa Table
Today we’ll talk about an incredibly important skill that might take some time to grasp but pays tremendous dividends. We’ll go through the exact details of how to use a pKa table. Understanding the proper use of a pKa table will give you the ability to recognize which acid-base reactions will happen and which will not. This will come up a lot as you progress through Org 1 and Org 2. It might be helpful to go back and review some of the factors that affect acidity that were talked about earlier.
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