Quick Organics

This is a quick revision source for those of you still coping with organic chemistry. It's a very neat summary, and it's been around a long time. I still wish that students would show the driving intelligence to learn which is oft shown by the creation of personal data structures.

Notes given by an instructor are fine. But they are first of all a communication coded by one brain in the hope that another, completely different, brain will decode it similarly and be guided by it equivalently. This is not as efficient as a brain working on established information and reconfiguring such material for its own use.
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Phenol

For those of you who have been wondering how phenol can possibly be made by electrophilic aromatic substitution... well, it isn't. As would more reasonably be expected, it's commonly made by nucleophilic aromatic substitution in which sodium hydroxide supplies a strong nucleophile that replaces another group (the 'leaving group') such as -Cl or -SO3H.

Phenols are also made by direct catalytic oxidation of benzene, nowadays. This kind of direct synthesis at the elemental level is the 'Holy Grail' of modern organometallic chemists.

Here is a convenient summary of methods for preparation of phenol, with links to related topics. It's a good reason why you should buy Carey's text.
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Infrared Spectroscopy

This is an excellent site for examining IR spectra. It is especially good because it shows molecular models and animates the vibrations that give rise to specific absorptions. You will need to download the CHIME plug-in.

Thanks to CKW for providing the URL.
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In Summary

I'd just like to point out that at this present moment, all classes should be aware of the following points:

1. There are four important areas to examine in organic chemistry, compounds, reactions and mechanisms. These are: electronic factors, steric factors, thermodynamic factors and kinetic factors.

2. There are a few major mechanisms with variations. One way to look at the range of mechanisms is: a) look at the attacking species - nucleophile, electrophile, free radical etc; b) look at the outcome - substitution, addition, elimination etc; c) consider the molecularity - likely to be unimolecular or bimolecular. Another way is to put these together and get mechanisms such as free radical substitution, electrophilic addition, electrophilic substitution, Sn1, Sn2, E1, E2 and so on. You should be able to explain all the reactions to some extent at this point, using structural diagrams and arrows.

3. This doesn't take away your responsibility to be able to classify compounds, name the easier ones (8 or fewer carbon, I'd say, but 6 or fewer is OK), and draw them. You should know these kinds at least: alkanes, alkenes, haloalkanes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amides, acyl halides, acid anhydrides, esters, and simple (one ring) aromatic compounds. It's nice if you know alkynes and other stuff, but we'll cover some of that later on.
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Reaction Mechanisms

'Reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry' is pretty straightforward topic if you remember a few key ideas.

1. Factors to consider: electronic, steric, thermodynamic, kinetic

2. Active species involved: free radical, nucleophile, electrophile

3. Overall consequence: substitution, addition, elimination


Here are two very helpful links:

1. List of Wikipedia entries for organic chemistry reaction mechanisms

2. ChemGuide index for organic chemistry reaction mechanisms

Personally, I prefer Wikipedia when I am looking for many related concepts and how they work together. I prefer Chemguide when I'm looking for clear specific ideas related to academic course requirements. Between the two, students should be able to figure out the basic principles of organic reactions.
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Organic Chemistry 102

For those who still don't know what's being covered in the IBDP syllabus, please look at:

Organic Chemistry - Topic 20 (HL)
Further Organic Chemistry - Option H

Also check out related links on the rest of the page.
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Organic Chemistry 101

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to a new year of chemical exploits (not explosions!)

Please go to this site to do some basic reading in organic chemistry before you will be ready. Explore as much as you can in the given sequence by the second week of term.

More advanced students might want to take note of this resource as well.

Thank you!
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