Unit 4: Organic Chemistry and Chemical Synthesis

Functional groups and homologous series, identifying the group that defines each organic family and explaining why members share chemical properties but show graded physical trends, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Functional groups, homologous series and IUPAC nomenclature, with worked naming examples and the most common exam mistakes.

Alcohols, their classification as primary, secondary and tertiary, and their key reactions including oxidation to carbonyl compounds, dehydration to alkenes, and combustion, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Substitution reactions, covering the ultraviolet halogenation of alkanes and the conversion of haloalkanes into alcohols by hydrolysis, with conditions, a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Physical properties of organic compounds, explaining boiling points and water solubility in terms of dispersion forces, dipole-dipole forces and hydrogen bonding across the organic families, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Addition reactions of alkenes, covering hydrogenation, halogenation, hydration to alcohols, and hydrogen halide addition, with the products and conditions, a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Oxidation of alcohols, how primary alcohols give aldehydes then carboxylic acids and secondary alcohols give ketones while tertiary alcohols resist oxidation, with the reagents, observations, a worked example and common exam mistakes.

X-ray crystallography, how the diffraction of x-rays by the regular array of atoms in a crystal is used to determine bond lengths, bond angles and three-dimensional structure, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Green chemistry, outlining its guiding principles such as atom economy, safer solvents, renewable feedstocks, catalysis and waste prevention, and how to evaluate a synthesis against them, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Structural and cis-trans isomerism, how to identify each type, and how isomerism affects properties, with a worked example and common mistakes.

Carboxylic acids and esters, covering carboxylic acid acidity and reactions, the esterification equilibrium, ester hydrolysis, and the uses of esters, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Substitution, addition, oxidation and esterification reactions and how to build multi-step organic pathways, with a worked route and common mistakes.

Amines and amides, comparing the amine functional group as a weak base with the amide linkage formed from a carboxylic acid and an amine, and the link to proteins, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Hydrocarbons, comparing the saturated alkanes with unsaturated alkenes and alkynes, their general formulas, bonding and characteristic reactions, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Addition and condensation polymerisation, monomers and repeating units, and structure-property relationships, with a worked example and common mistakes.

Infrared spectroscopy, how molecular bonds absorb infrared radiation at characteristic wavenumbers, how to identify functional groups such as O-H, C=O and N-H from absorption bands, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Mass spectrometry, how the molecular ion peak gives molar mass and how fragment peaks and the gaps between them reveal structure, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Percentage yield and atom economy, how each is calculated, what they measure, and why both matter when evaluating a synthesis, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

NMR spectroscopy, how chemical shift, the number of peaks, peak area and splitting reveal the hydrogen and carbon environments in a molecule, with a worked example and common exam mistakes.

Percentage yield, atom economy, green chemistry and instrumental analysis, with a worked yield calculation and common mistakes.