Ochem - Blog Posts

Here is a summary for Diels Alder for Ochem:

What comes to mind when you think of alcohol? Probably alcoholic drinks like beer or wine. But in organic chemistry alcohols are an important and versatile family of compounds. In this episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry, we’ll use alcohols as a starting point to get other types of compounds like ethers, epoxides, and more!

Breaking Down Alkanes - isn’t it cracking?

Unfortunately, if you’re sitting your A Level chemistry exam, you need to know a little more than the basic properties of alkanes outlined in my last post. Luckily though, this post takes you through fractional distillation and the two types of cracking - isn’t that convenient?

Crude oil contains carbon compounds formed by the effects of pressure and high temperature on plant and animal remnants. It is viscious, black and found in rocks beneath the earth’s surface. It is a mixture of mainly alkane hydrocarbons which are separated by a process called fractional distillation. Crude oil is essential because it is burned as a fuel and each fraction has different properties e.g. diesel, petrol, jet fuel.

Fractional distillation is the continual evaporation and condensation of a mixture which causes fractions to split due to a difference in boiling point. It is important to note that fractional distillation does not separate crude oil into pure compounds but rather less complex mixtures. Fractions are groups of compounds that have similar boiling points and are removed at the same level of a fractionating column.

The first step in this process is to heat crude oil in a furnace until some changes state from a liquid to a vapour. This mixture goes up a fractionating tower or column which is hotter at the bottom than the top and reaches a layer which is cool enough to condense and be collected. Shorter chain molecules are collected at the top where it is cooler since they have lower boiling points.

As you go down the fractionating column, bear in mind that: the column temperature increases, the boiling point increases, the number of carbon atoms increases and the strength of the Van der Waals’ between molecules increases.

Different fractions have different usefulnesses and often, it is the fractions with lower boiling points and shorter chains which are much more purposeful. Therefore there needs to be a process to getting shorter chains because they are the least abundant in crude oil samples. To meet demand, long chain molecules that are less useful are broken down into shorter chain molecules. This is done by cracking.

Cracking is a process where long chain hydrocarbon molecules are broken down into shorter chain molecules which are in high demand. This can be done one of two ways - thermal or catalytic.

Thermal cracking involves heating long chain alkanes to high temperatures - usually between 1000 - 1200K. It also uses high pressures up to 70atm and takes just one second. It only needs a second because the conditions could decompose the molecule completely to produce carbon and hydrogen instead. The conditions produce shorter chain alkanes and mostly alkenes.

A typical equation for this:

Decane -> octane + ethene

C10H22 -> C8H18 + C2H4

Catalytic cracking also breaks down long alkanes by heat under pressure using the presence of a zeolite catalyst. Temperature used is approx. 800-1000K and the pressure is often between 1-2 atm. Zeolite is an acidic mineral with a honeycomb structure, made from aluminium oxide and silicion dioxide. The honeycomb structure gives the catalyst a larger surface area which increases ROR. Factories which catalytically crack are often operated continuously for around 3 years at a time and produce branched alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatic compounds.

You need to be able to compare the conditions of catalytic and thermal cracking for the A Level exam. Know that thermal cracking has a high temperature and pressure, a short duration, no catalyst and produces a high percentage of alkenes and some short chain alkanes. Catalytic uses a catalyst, a high temperature, a low pressure and produces aromatic hydrocarbons and motor fuels.

SUMMARY

Crude oil contains carbon compounds formed by the effects of pressure and high temperature on plant and animal remnants. I It is a mixture of mainly alkane hydrocarbons which are separated by a process called fractional distillation.

Fractional distillation is the continual evaporation and condensation of a mixture which causes fractions to split due to a difference in boiling point. 

It is important to note that fractional distillation does not separate crude oil into pure compounds but rather less complex mixtures.

Fractions are groups of compounds that have similar boiling points and are removed at the same level of a fractionating column.

The first step in this process is to heat crude oil in a furnace until some changes state from a liquid to a vapour. This mixture goes up a fractionating tower or column which is hotter at the bottom than the top and reaches a layer which is cool enough to condense and be collected. Shorter chain molecules are collected at the top where it is cooler since they have lower boiling points.

As you go down the fractionating column, bear in mind that: the column temperature increases, the boiling point increases, the number of carbon atoms increases and the strength of the Van der Waals’ between molecules increases.

Fractions with lower boiling points and shorter chains are much more purposeful but are the least abundant in crude oil samples. To meet demand, long chain molecules that are less useful are broken down into shorter chain molecules. 

Cracking is a process where long chain hydrocarbon molecules are broken down into shorter chain molecules which are in high demand. 

Thermal cracking involves heating long chain alkanes to high temperatures - usually between 1000 - 1200K. It also uses high pressures up to 70atm and takes just one second. It only needs a second because the conditions could decompose the molecule completely to produce carbon and hydrogen instead. The conditions produce shorter chain alkanes and mostly alkenes.

Catalytic cracking also breaks down long alkanes by heat under pressure using the presence of a zeolite catalyst. Temperature used is approx. 800-1000K and the pressure is often between 1-2 atm. Zeolite is an acidic mineral with a honeycomb structure, made from aluminium oxide and silicion dioxide. The honeycomb structure gives the catalyst a larger surface area which increases ROR. 

You need to be able to compare the conditions of catalytic and thermal cracking for the A Level exam. Know that thermal cracking has a high temperature and pressure, a short duration, no catalyst and produces a high percentage of alkenes and some short chain alkanes. Catalytic uses a catalyst, a high temperature, a low pressure and produces aromatic hydrocarbons and motor fuels.

Happy studying!

Nomenclature - what in the organic chemistry is it?

Organic chemistry is so widely studied it requires a standard system for naming compounds, developed by IUPAC. Nomenclature is simply naming these organic compounds.

So, you want to be an organic chemist? Well, it starts here. Are you ready?

(psst… once you’ve learnt this theory, try a quiz here!)

1. Count your longest continuous chain of carbons.

Bear in mind that some chains may be bent. You’re looking for the longest chain of subsequent carbon atoms. This number correlates to root names that indicate the carbon chain length, listed below:

The second part of naming your base comes from the bonding in the chain. Is it purely single bonds or are there double bonds in there? If you are familiar with carbon chemistry, you’ll know that saturated hydrocarbons are called alkanes and unsaturated hydrocarbons are called alkenes. Therefore, the syllable -ane is used when it has only single bonds and the syllable -ene is used when it has some double bonds. For example:

Sometimes carbon chains exist in rings rather than chains. These have the prefix of -cyclo.

2. Identify your side chains attached to this main carbon and name them.

Side chains are added as prefixes to the root names. Sometimes called substituents, these are basically anything that comes off the carbon chain. Examples of the prefixes are listed below:

There are other prefixes such as fluoro (-F) and chloro (-Cl) which can describe what is coming off the chain.

3. Identify where each side chain is attached and indicate the position by adding a number to the name. 

We aim to have numbers as small as possible. For example, if bromine is on the second carbon of a 5-carbon saturated chain, we number it as 2-bromopentane instead of 4-bromopentane, since it would essentially be 2-bromopentane if it was flipped. Locant is the term used for the number which describes the position of the substitute group, e.g. the ‘2′ in 2-chlorobutane is the locant.

Sometimes there are two or more side chains e.g. a methyl group and a chlorine attached to a pentane. In these cases, these rules apply:

1. Names are written alphabetically.

2. A separate number is needed for each side chain or group.

3. Hyphens are used to separate numbers and letters.

This would be named 2-chloro-3-methyl-pentane. This is because the longest chain of carbons is 5 (pentane), the chlorine is on the second carbon (2-chloro) and the methyl group is on the third carbon (3-methyl). It is 2-chloro rather than 4-chloro as we aim to have as small as numbers as possible.

Another variation of this step to be aware of is how many of the same side chains or groups there are, for example, having two methyl groups would be dimethyl rather than solely methyl. Each group must also be given numbers separated by commas to show where each one is located. 

The list of these prefixes is found here:

Convention does not usually require mono- to go before a single group or side chain.

4. Number the positions of double bonds if applicable.

Alkenes and other compounds have double bonds. These must be indicated with numbers. For example, pent-2-ene shows that the double bond is between carbon 2 and carbon 3. The number goes in the middle of the original root name e.g. butene, pentene.

(!) Below is a list of functional groups that you may need to study for the AS and A Level chemistry exams. “R” represents misc. carbons. It is important to know that some groups are more prioritised than naming. From the most to least priority: carboxylic acid, ester, acyl chloride, nitrile, aldehyde, ketone, alcohol, amine, alkene, halogenalkane. It is worthwhile learning these.

bigger version here (I suggest downloading and printing it)

But wait, there’s more:

Here are some things to bear in mind when naming organic compounds:

1. The letter ‘e’ is removed when there are two vowels together e.g. propanone rather than propaneone. The ‘e’ isn’t removed when it is next to consonant, e.g. propanenitrile isn’t propannitrile.

2. When compounds contain two different, one is named as part of the unbranched chain and the other is named as a substituent. Which way round this goes depends on the priority. 

SUMMARY

Count your longest continuous chain of carbons.

Chains may be bent. You’re looking for the longest chain of subsequent carbon atoms. This number correlates to root names that indicate the carbon chain length, e.g. pentane.

The second part of naming your base comes from the bonding in the chain. Is it purely single bonds or are there double bonds in there? The syllable -ane is used when it has only single bonds and the syllable -ene is used when it has some double bonds.

Rings have the prefix of -cyclo.

Identify your side chains attached to this main carbon and name them.

Side chains are added as prefixes to the root names. Sometimes called substituents, these are basically anything that comes off the carbon chain. 

There are other prefixes such as fluoro (-F) and chloro (-Cl) which can describe what is coming off the chain.

Identify where each side chain is attached and indicate the position by adding a number to the name.

We aim to have numbers as small as possible. Locant is the term used for the number which describes the position of the substitute group, e.g. the ‘2′ in 2-chlorobutane is the locant.

Sometimes there are two or more side chains e.g. a methyl group and a chlorine attached to a pentane. In these cases, names are written alphabetically, a separate number is needed for each side chain or group and hyphens are used to separate numbers and letters.

When there are two or more of the same side chains or substituent groups, these must also be given numbers separated by commas to show where each one is located.

Number the positions of double bonds if applicable.

Alkenes and other compounds have double bonds. These must be indicated with numbers. The number goes in the middle of the original root name e.g. butene, pentene.

It is worthwhile learning the other functional groups that can be added on.They have varying priorities.

The letter ‘e’ is removed when there are two vowels together e.g. propanone rather than propaneone. The ‘e’ isn’t removed when it is next to consonant, e.g. propanenitrile isn’t propannitrile.

When compounds contain two different, one is named as part of the unbranched chain and the other is named as a substituent. Which way round this goes depends on the priority.

Happy studying guys!

really trying my best to get into organic chemistry 2 studying but i’m so over it i need to start pchem and continue with my other math courses like im tired

taking my ‘intro’ class to my major (quantitative analysis for chemistry) any advice is appreciated!!!