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Friedel Craft Alkylation/Acylation Reaction with supplement questions

In organic chemistry, Friedel Craft reaction holds its own importance for synthesizing alkyl-aryl or acyl-aryl compounds in the presence of Lewis acid. This reaction was first reported in 1887 by Charles Friedel and James Mason Craft for their isolation of amyl benzene under the action of Lewis acid.  However, the yield was found to be low due to the formation of other side products in the reaction. The reaction termed Friedel Craft alkylation. This reaction generally involves Lewis acids such as FeBr3, AlCl3, SnCl4, TiCl4, BF3, BeCl2, etc. The mechanism of the reaction shows the formation of carbocation which rearranges itself to direct the reaction in the forward reaction. Due to the formation of carbocations n-alkyl substituted product is difficult to form in this route.  Let us understand the mechanism of the reaction step by step. The first point is the interaction of Lewis acid with the alkyl halide. The lone pair of halide interact with the vacant p-orbital of the Lewis acid and

Atomic Mass and Elemental Mass

In this article, we will discuss the atomic mass of an atom as well as understand the relationship between atomic mass and elemental mass. So starting from the atomic mass, which generally explains the relation of 1/12th part of a carbon-12 atom. This 1/12th part represents the one unit or one amu (atomic mass unit). Lets us understand it in a simple way, a carbon-12 atom has 6 protons and 6 neutrons in its nucleus. These nucleons suggested the atomic mass of C is 12 amu. Therefore, one proton unit simply represents one unit mass or 1 amu. So the atomic mass of any element is generally represented by its numbers of nucleons. Example: Hydrogen has atomic number 1, which shows that H atom has only one proton in its nucleus; therefore, the atomic mass of hydrogen is 1 amu or 1 unit mass. Similarly, for lithium atom (At. No. 3) contains 3 protons and 4 neutrons in its nucleus show 7 unit of its atomic mass. Now the question is, what will be the atomic mass of an element in grams? This can

Oxidation of Alcohols by KMnO4

Oxidizing agents such as KMnO 4 , PDC, Jones reagent, TEMPO, etc. have been used globally over the century. These oxidizing agents convert many families of hydrocarbons into their respective alcohols. KMnO 4 is one of the strong oxidizing agent used for the conversion of primary or secondary alcohols into aldehydes and ketones in controlled conditions.   Many other functional groups such as 1-2 diols, oximes, thiols, sulfides, etc. can also be oxidized by this oxidant. Now the question is Why  KMnO 4  acts as a strong oxidizing agent? In KMnO 4  if we look into the oxidation state of Mn we found that the manganese is in +7 oxidation state. As we know that the atomic number of Mn is 25 therefore, the electronic configuration of Mn is 1s 2 ,2s 2 ,2p 6 ,3s 2 ,3p 6 ,4s 2 ,3d 5 . Now the Mn is in +7 oxidation state which suggests the removal of 7 electrons from the 4s and 3d orbitals (i.e. 4s 0 , 3d 0 ). The maximum capacity to remove electrons has been reached for Mn +7 and now it can on

Wurtz Coupling Reaction and Mechanism with supplements questions.

Wurtz reaction or Wurtz coupling reaction is generally defined for alkyl halides, where alkyl halides are converted into a suitable alkane by nucleophilic substitution mechanism. The reaction generally involves metal with a solvent, especially a nonpolar one, so that reaction between metal and solvent does not occur. The solvent used in this reaction could be dry ether, Xylene, Dioxane, THF (Tetrahydrofuran), etc. This reaction is generally useful for the synthesis of an even number of carbon-containing compounds. However, an odd number of carbon-containing products also possible in this reaction but at the expense of the purity of the desired product. A mixture of products (alkane) is formed by taking two different alkyl halides in this reaction. The reaction also suggested the formation of C-C bonds and used only primary halides. Other halides such as secondary or tertiary halides undergo disproportionation or elimination reactions. This reaction is also known as a coupling reaction