Organic Chemistry Flashcards
7 cards from real OAT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Organic Chemistry flashcards as text
Which reagent is used to reduce a carboxylic acid to a primary alcohol?
Answer: LiAlH4
LiAlH4 is a strong enough hydride donor to reduce carboxylic acids all the way to primary alcohols; NaBH4 cannot.
What is the IUPAC name of CH3CH2C(=O)CH3?
Answer: 2-butanone
The ketone carbonyl is at C2 of a four-carbon chain, giving 2-butanone (also called methyl ethyl ketone).
Which of the following best describes the inductive effect of a fluorine atom on an adjacent carboxylic acid?
Answer: Electron withdrawal via σ-bonds, increasing acidity
Fluorine's high electronegativity withdraws electron density through σ-bonds, stabilizing the carboxylate anion and increasing acidity.
The reaction of an aldehyde with two equivalents of an alcohol in acid gives which product?
Answer: Acetal
Two alcohols condense with an aldehyde under acid catalysis to form an acetal with loss of water.
Which of these aromatic substituents is an ortho/para director that deactivates the ring?
Answer: –Cl
Halogens direct ortho/para via lone-pair resonance donation but deactivate the ring by strong inductive electron withdrawal.
What distinguishes a constitutional isomer from a stereoisomer?
Answer: Constitutional isomers have the same molecular formula but different connectivity; stereoisomers have the same connectivity but differ in spatial arrangement.
Constitutional isomers differ in how atoms are connected, while stereoisomers share connectivity but differ in three-dimensional arrangement.
Which of the following best characterizes a nucleophile?
Answer: An electron-pair donor
A nucleophile donates an electron pair to an electrophile, forming a new covalent bond.