Rules of the Day

2-13-2024

Click here for a copy of the lectures notes I wrote in class

Click here for a copy of the handouts I used in class today

Featured Golden Rule of Chemistry: 2. Five- and six-membered rings are the most stable. 

1. You can make carboxylic acids from Grignard reagents reacting with CO2 or oxidation of alcohols/aldehydes with H2CrO4.

2. You can reduce carboxylic acids to acohols with LiAlH4 followed by treatment with H2O. Other reducing agents do not work with carboxyilc acids.

3. Fischer esterification converts a carboxylic acid into an ester using an alcohol and acid catalysis. The mechanism involves Mechanism D followed by loss of an H2O via protonation.

4. Carboxylic acids react with SOCl2 to give acid chlorides via a chlorosulfite intermediate that then reacts according to Mechanism B to give the acid chloride. This is a very valuable reaction because acid chlorides can be easily converted into other carboxylic acid derivatives.

5. Beta-keto acids and beta-dicarboxylic acids can be decarboxylated via a six-membered ring transition state facilitated by a hydrogen bond and six-membered ring conformation that means they are "poised" to react.

 

Homework:

Read: Sections 18.1-18.2 in the ebook textbook. This text is part of the Longhorn Textbook access program.

Study for the exam, there are no new homeworks or Daily Quizzes this week.