Organic chemistry flashcards

Organic chemistry focuses on carbon-containing compounds and their reactions. Students must understand homologous series such as alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, and amines. Key skills include naming compounds using IUPAC rules, drawing structural and displayed formulae, and identifying functional groups. Reaction types covered include substitution, addition, elimination, condensation, and hydrolysis. Students must understand mechanisms such as nucleophilic substitution and electrophilic addition, and be able to distinguish between structural isomers and stereoisomers including cis-trans and optical isomers. The concept of chirality and the properties of enantiomers are also required. Understanding how structure influences physical and chemical properties is central to the topic.

1. Card 1

   What is a homologous series?

   A homologous series is a family of compounds sharing the same functional group and general formula, with each member differing by CH2.

2. Card 2

   What is the general formula for alkanes?

   Alkanes have the general formula CnH(2n+2). They are saturated hydrocarbons containing only single C-C bonds.

3. Card 3

   What type of reaction do alkenes undergo with bromine water?

   Alkenes undergo electrophilic addition with bromine water, decolourising it from orange-brown to colourless.

4. Card 4

   What is a nucleophile?

   A nucleophile is an electron-rich species that donates an electron pair to an electron-deficient carbon during a reaction.

5. Card 5

   What is the difference between a primary and secondary alcohol?

   In a primary alcohol the OH-bearing carbon is attached to one other carbon; in a secondary alcohol it is attached to two.

6. Card 6

   What functional group is present in a carboxylic acid?

   Carboxylic acids contain the carboxyl group (-COOH), which makes them weakly acidic and able to donate a proton.

7. Card 7

   How is an ester formed?

   An ester forms by condensation reaction between a carboxylic acid and an alcohol, releasing water and forming a -COO- linkage.

8. Card 8

   What is optical isomerism?

   Optical isomers are non-superimposable mirror images arising from a chiral centre, a carbon bonded to four different groups.

9. Card 9

   What is the mechanism for the reaction of halogenoalkanes with NaOH?

   Halogenoalkanes react with NaOH via nucleophilic substitution; the OH- ion replaces the halogen, forming an alcohol.

10. Card 10

    What is the difference between cis and trans isomers?

    Cis-trans isomers arise from restricted rotation around a C=C bond; cis has identical groups on the same side, trans on opposite sides.

11. Card 11

    What reagent is used to distinguish aldehydes from ketones?

    Tollens' reagent (silver mirror test) or Fehling's solution oxidise aldehydes but not ketones, giving a positive result only for aldehydes.

12. Card 12

    What is a condensation polymer?

    A condensation polymer forms when monomers join repeatedly with loss of a small molecule such as water, e.g. polyesters and polyamides.

• Students often confuse structural isomers with stereoisomers, forgetting that stereoisomers share the same connectivity but differ only in spatial arrangement.
• A common error is assuming all alcohols are oxidised to carboxylic acids; tertiary alcohols resist oxidation entirely under normal conditions.
• Students frequently draw addition polymers with incorrect repeat units, forgetting to remove the double bond and show the two new single bonds to adjacent monomers.

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