Reaction+pathways

The raw materials for many organic compounds is from coal, crude oil or natural gas. Usually in organic chemistry the desired product can’t be formed from the available starting material in a single step. Thus chemists have to devise a reaction pathway using as few steps as possible, with each step giving the highest yield possible. The more steps there are in the synthesis, the lower the final yield is likely to be because some material will be lost during each step. Eg: obtaining butanone form but-2-ene.

We know that butanone is a ketone and can be produced by oxidising a secondary alcohol. And a secondary alcohol can be produced by hydrating an alkene. Therefore, the reaction goes as follows: In the first step the but-2-ene is hydrated by heating with steam in the presence of a phosphoric acid catalyst to produce butan-2-ol. The alcohol produced is then oxidised with an acidified aqueous solution of potassium dichromate to form a ketone (butan-2-one).

A good knowledge of organic chemistry is required in order to devise a suitable reaction pathway. When devising a reaction pathway, it is useful to look at the functional groups of the compounds and see what reactions they can undergo. The following is a summary of different compounds and reaction types: 

By the end of this lesson you should be able to: **__Next up- Uncertainty and error in measurement __**
 * Deduce reaction pathways given the starting material and products
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