Keto-Enol Tautomerism: Key Points
Everything you ever wanted to know (and more!) about keto-enol tautomerism.
Read morealdehydes
Reducing Sugars
What’s a reducing sugar, and why is it important? Here’s a quick summary. Full details in the post below. Before We Talk About Reducing Sugars:
Read moreWeird Nomenclature In Carbonyl Chemistry
Making it through the chemistry of carbonyl derivatives (ketones, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, esters, and more) there are at least two “weird” nomenclature issues that repeatedly
Read moreThe Simple Two-Step Pattern For Seven Key Reactions of Aldehydes and Ketones
“There are just so many reactions! I can’t remember all the mechanisms!!” – distressed organic chemistry student Yes, yes there are a lot of reactions, particularly
Read moreReaction Friday: Formation of Acetals from Ketones
Today’s video is about the formation of acetals from aldehydes and ketones, an important method for the protection of the carbonyl group. One thing I
Read moreReagent Friday: Sodium Periodate
In a blatant plug for the Reagent Guide and the Reagents App for iPhone, each Friday I profile a different reagent that is commonly encountered in Org 1/ Org
Read moreOxidation Ladders
Once you get a handle on oxidations and reductions, you might start to notice that with some molecules these reactions can proceed in sequences. For
Read moreOn Acetals and Hemiacetals
(Part VI on a series of posts on the reactions of neutral nucleophiles with carbonyl compounds) When I started this series on reaction mechanisms of
Read moreCarbonyls: 10 key concepts (Part 2)
5 more key concepts: Carbonyls make adjacent alkyl groups more acidic, the more electrophilic the carbonyl, the more acidic its alpha protons, carbonyls activate alkenes toward nucleophilic attack, reactivity of alpha beta unsaturated carbonyls is proportional to the stability of its enolate, enolates are nucleophiles.
Read moreSummary Sheet #2: Enols and Enolates
Here’s the second summary sheet I’ve put together. It covers enol and enolate chemistry, although more of the fundamental material rather than their reactions. Although
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