In the previous post we introduced ortho- ,para- and meta- directors in electrophilic aromatic substitution. Previous to that we covered the mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitution, and showed that the mechanism proceeds through a carbocation intermediate. Today, we're going to tie … [Read more...]
Hybridization And Bond Strengths
Understanding the concept of hybrid orbitals lets you make accurate predictions about trends in bond strengths. In this post we'll give several examples of how to do this. Let's start with a quick quiz. What's the strongest C–H bond, below? (In other words, which C–H bond has the highest … [Read more...]
The E1 Reaction
Last time in this walkthrough on elimination reactions, we talked about two types of elimination reactions. In this post, we're going to dig a little bit deeper on one type of elimination reaction, and based on what experiments tell us, come up with a hypothesis for how it works. Here's the … [Read more...]
Comparing the SN1 and SN2 Reactions
Hey! You can now download a free 1-page Summary Sheet of SN1 vs SN2 reactions containing all the material on this series of blog posts here: Summary Sheet - SN1 vs SN2 Since we've gone through the different factors that impact the SN1 [see post] and SN2 [see post] reactions, it's … [Read more...]
7 Factors that stabilize negative charge in organic chemistry
Like I wrote about last time, it's good - but not enough - to recognize partial charges and to figure out where they interact. Since reactions involve processes that lead to the gain or loss of charges, understanding the factors that stabilize (or destabilize) charge have a tremendous impact on … [Read more...]
Introduction to Rearrangement Reactions
The previous four posts on acid-base, substitution, addition, and elimination covered the 4 main reactions in organic chemistry I. Now it's time to go beyond those mainstays to introduce a few of the less common (but still important) reactions you learn in organic chemistry 1. They will be … [Read more...]