All Organic Reactions Short Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering named organic reactions, reagents, and mechanisms from the All Organic Reactions short notes.

Lindlar's Catalyst

Palladised charcoal partially deactivated with poisons like sulphur or quinoline, used to carry out syn-addition of $H_2$ to alkynes to produce cis-alkenes.

Birch Reduction

Reduction of alkynes using sodium in liquid ammonia ($Na / \text{liq. } NH_3$) through a Single Electron Transfer (SET) mechanism to yield trans-alkenes via anti-addition.

Hofmann Elimination

An elimination reaction of quaternary ammonium salts, substrates containing poor leaving groups like $-F$, or reactions using bulky bases, which selectively produces the less substituted alkene as the major product without intermediates or rearrangements.

Cope Elimination

An intramolecular syn-elimination process in which tertiary ($3^\bot$) amine oxides are heated to decompose into an alkene and a substituted hydroxylamine.

Kolbe's Electrolysis

An electrolytic method converting carboxylate salts ($R-COOK$) into symmetrical alkanes ($R-R$) and $CO_2$ at the anode, while releasing $H_2$ and forming $NaOH$ at the cathode.

Wurtz Reaction

Coupling reaction of alkyl halides ($R-X$) with metallic sodium ($Na$) in dry ether to produce symmetrical alkanes ($R-R$) with an even number of carbon atoms.

Swarts Reaction

Halide exchange method for preparing alkyl fluorides ($R-F$) by heating alkyl halides ($R-X$) with inorganic fluorides such as $AgF$ or $Hg_2F_2$.

Finkelstein Reaction

An $S_N 2$ halogen-exchange reaction where an alkyl chloride or bromide ($R-X$, where $X = Cl, Br$) is treated with sodium iodide ($NaI$) in dry acetone to form an alkyl iodide ($R-I$).

Mulliken Barker's Test

A qualitative test for detecting nitrobenzene by reducing it with $Zn / NH_4Cl$ to form $Ph-NH-OH$, which subsequently reduces ammoniacal silver nitrate ($AgNO_3 + NH_3$) to yield a black precipitate of silver ($Ag$).

Schiemann Reaction

The preparation of fluorobenzene ($Ph-F$) through the thermal decomposition of a diazonium fluoroborate formed by treating benzenediazonium chloride with fluoroboric acid ($HBF_4$).

Sandmeyer Reaction

A substitution reaction in which an arenediazonium salt is converted into an aryl halide ($Ph-X$) using cuprous halide and haloacid ($CuX / HX$).

Oxo Process

The catalytic hydroformylation of ethene ($CH_2=CH_2$) with carbon monoxide and hydrogen ($CO + H_2$) using $[Co(CO)_4]_2$ to synthesize propanal ($CH_3-CH_2-CHO$).

Williamson Ether Synthesis

An $S_N 2$ displacement reaction between an alkoxide ($R'O^-$) and an alkyl halide ($R-X$, preferably primary and compact) to synthesize symmetrical or unsymmetrical ethers ($R-O-R'$).

Dow Process

The industrial synthesis of phenol by heating chlorobenzene with aqueous sodium hydroxide ($NaOH$) at $350^\bot C$ under high pressure, followed by acidification ($H^+$).

Claisen Rearrangement

An intramolecular thermal rearrangement that occurs when allyl-phenyl ether is heated to $200^\bot C$ to yield ortho-allylphenol.

Reimer-Tiemann Reaction

The formylation of phenol into salicylaldehyde as the major product via reaction with chloroform ($CHCl_3$) and aqueous base ($OH^-$) through a dichlorocarbene ($:CCl_2$) intermediate.

Rosenmund Reduction

The selective catalytic hydrogenation of an acyl chloride ($R-CO-Cl$) to an aldehyde ($R-CHO$) using hydrogen gas with palladium supported on barium sulfate ($H_2 / Pd-BaSO_4$), poisoned with sulfur or quinoline.

Gatterman-Koch Reaction

The electrophilic formylation of benzene to produce benzaldehyde ($Ph-CHO$) using carbon monoxide ($CO$) and hydrogen chloride ($HCl$) in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride ($AlCl_3$).

Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky (HVZ) Reaction

The selective $\alpha$-halogenation of aliphatic carboxylic acids with elemental chlorine or bromine ($Cl_2$ or $Br_2$) in the presence of red phosphorus ($P$).

Arndt-Eistert Reaction

A homologation sequence that converts a carboxylic acid ($R-COOH$) into its next higher homologue ($R-CH_2-COOH$) using thionyl chloride ($SOCl_2$), diazomethane ($CH_2N_2$), and $H_2O / Ag$ via a ketene intermediate.