I. Introduction
Organic Chemistry II builds on Organic I’s mechanism and functional-group foundations and shifts toward carbonyl chemistry, enolate chemistry, aromatic substitution, and multi-step synthesis.
II. Outline
- Carbonyl reactivity
- Carbonyl polarity, electrophilicity, and resonance
- Nucleophilic addition vs acyl substitution
- Chemoselectivity
- Aldehydes and ketones
- Hydration and hemiacetal/acetal formation
- Imine, oxime, and hydrazone formation
- Reductions and carbon–carbon bond formation
- 1,2 vs 1,4 addition
- Carboxylic acids and their derivatives
- Reactivity ladder
- Nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanisms
- Interconversions between derivatives
- Hydrolysis, transesterification, amidation
- Enols, enolates, and alpha chemistry
- Keto–enol tautomerism and alpha acidity
- Enolate formation and how bases/conditions control it
- Alpha halogenation and related transformations
- Enamine chemistry
- Aldol reactions and bond formation
- Aldol addition vs aldol condensation
- Intramolecular aldol reactions and ring formation
- Crossed aldol strategy
- Retrosynthesis
- Claisen condensation and ester enolate reactions
- Claisen condensation mechanism and requirements
- Dieckmann and ring closures
- Beta-dicarbonyl chemistry
- Conjugated systems and pericyclic reactions
- Conjugation effects; allylic/benzylic stabilization
- Diels–Alder reaction: regioselectivity and stereochemistry
- Electrocyclic and sigmatropic ideas
- Aromatic chemistry beyond the basics
- EAS review and advanced directing effects
- Multi-substituted benzene planning
- Benzylic oxidation and side-chain reactions
- Amines and nitrogen chemistry
- Basicity trends and substituent effects
- Alkylation issues and practical workaround
- Diazotization / substitutions
- Protecting strategies
- Spectroscopy and structure determination
- IR: carbonyl regions, NH/OH differentiation, key functional-group flags
- 1H NMR: splitting, integration, chemical shift patterns, coupling logic
- 13C NMR: carbonyl ranges, symmetry clues, DEPT
- MS: molecular ion, isotope patterns, common fragments
- Multi-technique workflow: propose structure, then verify with all spectra
- Multi-step synthesis and retrosynthesis
- Functional group interconversions
- C–C bond forming reactions as backbone builders
- Protecting group rationale
- Strategy: simplify to recognizable starting materials and reliable transforms
- Biomolecules Overview
- Carbohydrates
- Amino acids/peptides
- Lipids and related functional groups
III. Free Books and Reference
- Organic Chemistry LibreTexts
- Deep, searchable coverage of typical Orgo II chapters with lots of examples.
- NIST Chemistry WebBook
- Reference spectra and physical data when you need real-world verification.
- PubChem
- Quick access to structures, properties, identifiers, and links to spectra and safety info.
IV. Video Resources
- Khan Academy – Organic Chemistry
- The second half of this course still applies to organic chemistry 2.
- Yale Open Courses – Freshman Organic Chemistry
- The Organic Chemistry Tutor (YouTube)
- MIT OpenCourseWare – Organic Chemistry II
V. Tools
See more tools in Organic Chemistry I
- SDBS Spectral Database (AIST)
- NMRdb
- MolView
- Draw structures quickly and visualize molecule geometry.
