Discussion: Synthesis of molecules is a fundamental aspect
of organic chemistry. Synthesis allows the preparation of an infinite
range of compounds for just about any conceivable use, such as a few drug
to combat cancer or a food additive to boost nutritional value. Interconversion
of functional groups is among the most common of organic synthesis operations.
It is useful therefore for the student of organic chemistry to appreciate
the reactions that are used to convert one functional group into another.
An appreciation of organic reactions also allows you to see patterns in
reactivity and reactions mechanisms. The predictive power of these
patterns is central to discovery of new reactions, or prediction of reactivity
in a given situation, such as a drug interacting with an enzyme.
These patterns also provide a framework for your study of organic reactions
and reactivity. If you understand the reactions of a functional group,
then you can make useful predictions about other reactions of the same
functional group, or of the reactions of a similar functional group.
You should not memorize this table of functional group preparations, but rather use them as a starting point to discover and explore reactivity patterns among various functional groups.
This table is a complete list of all the reactions used to prepare various
functional groups as presented in Introduction to Organic Chemistry
Second Edition by William H. Brown. It is not a complete list
of all known organic reactions.
Acetal |
Ammonium
Salt |
Hemiacetal |
Acid
Chloride |
Aryl
Halide |
Imine |
Alcohol |
Carboxylic
Acid |
b-Ketoester |
Aldehyde |
Disulfide |
Ketone |
| Alkane
Absence of all other
functional groups |
Epoxide |
Nitro |
Alkene |
Ester |
Sulfide |
Alkoxide |
Ether |
Sulfonic
Acid |
Amide |
Glycol |
Sulfonium
Salt |
Amine |
Haloalkane |
a,b-Unsaturated
Aldehyde or Ketone
 |
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