Organic Chemistry – Some Basic Principles and Techniques

Chemistry · Class 11

Lesson 13 of 13 · 16 min

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Must-know facts

18 facts

  1. 01s character: sp 50%, sp² 33%, sp³ 25%; electronegativity of carbon sp > sp² > sp³.
  2. 02Principal group priority: –COOH > –SO₃H > –COOR > –COCl > –CONH₂ > –CN > –CHO > >C=O > –OH > –NH₂ > C=C > C≡C.
  3. 03Halo, nitro and alkoxy groups are always prefixes.
  4. 04Multiplying prefixes (di, tri) are ignored when alphabetising substituents.
  5. 05Carbocations: sp², planar; carbanions: sp³, pyramidal.
  6. 06Carbocation stability: 3° > 2° > 1° > CH₃⁺.
  7. 07−I effect of halogens: F > Cl > Br > I; alkyl groups are +I.
  8. 08Inductive effect fades rapidly and is negligible beyond about three bonds.
  9. 09Electromeric effect is temporary and needs an attacking reagent; inductive and resonance effects are permanent.
  10. 10Hyperconjugation = σ-π conjugation = no-bond resonance; more α-hydrogens, more stabilisation.
  11. 11Benzene C–C bond length is 139 pm, between single and double bond lengths.
  12. 12Steam distillation: aniline; reduced-pressure distillation: glycerol from spent-lye; fractional distillation: crude oil.
  13. 13Rf = distance travelled by substance / distance travelled by solvent front.
  14. 14Lassaigne: Prussian blue for N, violet with nitroprusside and black PbS for S, blood red for N + S.
  15. 15AgCl white (soluble in NH₃), AgBr pale yellow (sparingly soluble), AgI yellow (insoluble).
  16. 16Kjeldahl fails for nitro, azo and ring nitrogen (pyridine).
  17. 17Carius method estimates halogens (as AgX) and sulphur (as BaSO₄).
  18. 18Oxygen percentage is found by difference.

Common traps

Where marks are lost

Formulas

9 to know

Retardation factor

Rf = distance moved by substance from baseline / distance moved by solvent from baseline

Dimensionless; always less than 1.

Percentage of carbon

% C = (12 × m₁ × 100) / (44 × m)

m₁ = mass of CO₂ formed, m = mass of compound.

Percentage of hydrogen

% H = (2 × m₂ × 100) / (18 × m)

m₂ = mass of water formed.

Nitrogen by Dumas method

% N = (28 × V × 100) / (22400 × m)

V = volume of N₂ in mL corrected to 273 K and 760 mm Hg, using the pressure of dry gas (atmospheric pressure minus aqueous tension); 22400 mL is the volume of 28 g of N₂ under those conditions, the value NCERT's derivation uses. m = mass of compound in g.

Nitrogen by Kjeldahl's method

% N = 1.4 × M × 2 × (V − V₁/2) / m

Both the H₂SO₄ and the NaOH have molarity M. V = mL of H₂SO₄ taken; V₁ = mL of NaOH used to titrate the leftover acid, which matches V₁/2 mL of the acid; so (V − V₁/2) mL of acid reacted with ammonia, equal to 2(V − V₁/2) mL of M ammonia. m = mass of compound in g. The 1.4 comes from 14 × 100 / 1000.

Halogen by Carius method

% X = (atomic mass of X × m₁ × 100) / (molar mass of AgX × m)

m₁ = mass of AgX formed.

Sulphur by Carius method

% S = (32 × m₁ × 100) / (233 × m)

m₁ = mass of BaSO₄ (233 g mol⁻¹).

Phosphorus

% P = (31 × m₁ × 100) / (1877 × m) or (62 × m₁ × 100) / (222 × m)

First for ammonium phosphomolybdate (1877 g mol⁻¹), second for Mg₂P₂O₇ (222 g mol⁻¹).

Oxygen

% O = 100 − (sum of percentages of all other elements)

Found by difference.

Key terms

15 terms

Functional group
An atom or group that decides the characteristic reactions of a compound family.
Homologous series
Compounds with the same functional group differing successively by CH₂.
Bond-line formula
A skeletal drawing where line ends and bends are carbons and C–H hydrogens are implied.
Metamerism
Isomerism from different alkyl groups on the two sides of a functional group.
Heterolytic cleavage
Bond breaking in which one fragment keeps both electrons, producing ions.
Homolytic cleavage
Bond breaking in which each fragment keeps one electron, producing free radicals.
Carbocation
A positively charged carbon species with six valence electrons.
Nucleophile
An electron-pair donor that attacks electron-poor centres.
Electrophile
An electron-seeking species that attacks electron-rich centres.
Inductive effect
Permanent polarisation of σ bonds by an electronegative or electropositive group.
Electromeric effect
Temporary complete shift of π electrons in response to an attacking reagent.
Hyperconjugation
Delocalisation of alpha C–H σ electrons into an adjacent empty p orbital or π system.
Resonance energy
Energy by which the real molecule is more stable than its most stable contributing structure.
Sodium fusion extract
Aqueous extract of a compound fused with sodium, used to test for N, S, halogens and P.
Chromatography
Separation by differential distribution between a stationary and a mobile phase.
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