Organic Mechanisms
Organic Mechanisms
- Throughout the A Level course you have met a number of organic mechanisms
- You must be able to provide these in full if asked for
- You must be able to apply your knowledge of what happens in a reaction mechanism to other reactions
- The reaction mechanisms which you have covered in this course are:
- Free radical substitution
- Electrophilic addition
- Nucleophilic substitution
- Elimination
- Nucleophilic addition
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination
- Electrophilic substitution
- Formation of amides
General Mechanisms
- The general mechanisms for each of these reactions are shown below
- Remember, these are just general mechanisms - for the exam you will have to draw them specific to the reaction in your exam question
Free radical substitution
Electrophilic addition
Nucleophilic substitution
Nucleophilic substitution with ammonia
Elimination
Nucleophilic addition
Nucleophilic addition-elimination
Electrophilic substitution
Formation of Amides
Examiner Tip
Remember - your arrows must be curly! If they look too straight, then you will lose the mark!
Remember that your arrows will always go from a lone pair, a negative charge or a bond which has high electron density and will move towards a species or area of a molecule which has positive charge!
