I am struggling to with unseen organic chemistry mechanism. I don’t know where to begin drawing them.

The purpose of a mechanism in organic chemistry is to show the movement of electron density leading to the reaction. Keeping this in mind, when faced with the starting materials, the first thing to identify is to find the most electrophilic and nucleophilic groups in each molecule. The electron density will always move from the strongest nucleophile to the strongest electrophile.

First take a look at the molecule. Are there any negative charges? If so that’s the starting point in most cases, if not, have a look for lone pairs and lastly - double bonds. These are nucleophilic species and good initial starting points; the more electron density is in one point the better the nucleophile. With electrophiles it’s opposite – best electrophile will have the lowest amount of electron density at one point e.g. a carbon adjacent to an electron withdrawing group or near a positive charge. However, be aware that you can’t for 5-valent carbons, so if you form a bond to a carbon then you must break one as well.

DS
Answered by Darius S. Chemistry tutor

2280 Views

See similar Chemistry A Level tutors

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Cracking of the unbranched compound E, C6H14, produced the saturated compound F and an unsaturated compound G (Mr = 42). Identify these compounds and write an equation for the reaction.


A buffer was made by mixing 20cm3 of 0.05M NaOH and 20cm3 of 0.25M propanoic acid. Calculate the pH. Ka=1.34x10^-5


What is a rate of reaction? How can we calculate the rate of reaction?


Why is the Harber process performed at higher temperatures rather than low?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning