VCE Chemistry organic synthesis pathways quiz

An aldehyde (limited oxidant) or a carboxylic acid (excess oxidant)

An ether, formed by joining two alcohol molecules together with loss of water

A ketone, as is the case when a secondary alcohol is oxidised under the same conditions

An alkene, produced by dehydration of the alcohol across the two adjacent carbon atoms

1-bromopropane

2-bromopropane

Propane

Propanol

An alkene and an alcohol, adding the alcohol across the carbon-to-carbon double bond

Two ketone molecules, joined together with the elimination of a single water molecule

A carboxylic acid and an alcohol with $\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{SO}_4$ catalyst, losing water

An ester and a base, in a reaction that regenerates the parent carboxylic acid and alcohol

Acid hydrolysis of an ester, splitting it back into a carboxylic acid and an alcohol

Esterification carried out using $\mathrm{HCl}$ rather than concentrated sulfuric acid as the catalyst

Oxidation of an alcohol with acidified dichromate to form a carboxylic acid as the product

Base hydrolysis of an ester producing a carboxylate salt and alcohol

Atoms add across a multiple bond, increasing the number of single bonds and decreasing multiple bonds

It involves exactly the same number of bonds before and after, with one atom swapped for another

It removes atoms from the molecule, forming a new multiple bond and releasing a small molecule such as water

It only ever occurs in benzene and other aromatic ring compounds, never in alkenes or alkanes

Addition polymerisation of alkene monomers across their carbon-to-carbon double bonds

Condensation polymerisation between a dicarboxylic acid and a diol, eliminating water

Polymerising a single alcohol monomer repeatedly to build up one very long carbon chain

Combustion of organic acids in oxygen to form long chains of carbon dioxide and water

Physically running a chosen reaction backwards in the laboratory to regenerate its original starting materials

Memorising every single organic reaction covered in the course so that any required synthesis can simply be recalled from memory directly

Working from the target molecule back to plausible precursors, identifying disconnections that map onto known reactions

Combining all of the available reagents together at once and seeing which product happens to form in the mixture

A base catalyst such as sodium hydroxide to start the chlorination reaction off

Acidic conditions provided by concentrated sulfuric acid acting as the catalyst

No special conditions at all, since the two gases react together spontaneously in the dark

UV light or heat to generate $\mathrm{Cl}$ radicals (initiation)

Propan-2-ol

Propan-1-ol

Propanone

Propanal

I will think carefully about this reaction and try out a few different ideas in my head until I work out which combination of reagents and conditions seems most likely to give me the product that the question is asking for.

Identify the target functional group and disconnect it back to a plausible precursor. Match the disconnection to a known reagent and conditions. Iterate until you reach starting materials in the VCAA reagent toolkit.

Organic synthesis is quite hard and there are a great many reactions to remember, so the best approach is simply to write down every reaction I can recall and hope that one of them happens to fit this particular question.

Mix all of the reagents that I have been given together in a single flask and then heat the mixture strongly, because combining everything at once is the quickest way to reach the desired final product in the question.