Organic reactions

Drawing structures

Always draw in skeletal form, showing carbon back bone and any atoms which involve the functional group.

When drawing 3D structures:

SOLID WEDGE COMING TOWARDS, CROSS-HATCHED GOING AWAY INTO THE PAPER. NORMAL LINE MEANS IN THE PLANE OF THE PAPER.

Organic structures and their reactions

Aromatic compounds contain at least one benzene ring: containing a planar unsaturated ring of atoms which is stabilised by an interaction of the bonds forming the ring (benzene and its derivatives such as phenol).

If a benzene ring is attached to a molecules by only one of its carbon atom (as in phenylalanine, but not paracetamol or aspirin), we can call it a Phenyl group and give it the organic element symbol Ph.

A ring system can be referred to as ‘Ar’ for ‘aryl’ (for aromatic). Ph always mean C6H5, whereas Ar can mean any number of groups subsitiuted in the phenyl ring. Ar does NOT mean argon in this case as argon does not form organic compounds.

‘R’ is a wild card for alkyl groups, Ar is a wild card aryl group.