Take it TO the next Level

  • Taking it to the next level allows for constant growth and learning. Too often we are complacent with our thought processes and we need that push to improve, we aim to help with that drive to learn more. Each topic will be taken from its basic idea, concept or structure right through to applications in industry and science.

Examples of next level chemisrty

Substitution 

 A substitution reaction:

This is a chemical reaction where one operating group in a chemical compound is changed by another operating group. Substitution reactions are really important in organic chemistry. The different types of substitution reactions in organic chemistry are electrophilic or nucleophilic depending upon the components involved; a reactive intermediate involved in the reaction is a carbocation, a carbanion or a free radical, and or the substance is aliphatic or aromatic. A good example of this is a hydroxide ion reacting with 2-bromoethane where the OH- group substitutes with the Br- to form ethanol and a negative bromide ion.

Addition

An addition reaction is where a functional group is added to an organic molecule that has a double or triple bond. The main type of addition reactions are: nucleophilic, electrophilic, free-radical and polymerisations.

Elimination

An elimination reaction:

This is a type of organic reaction in which two substituents are removed from a molecule in either a one- or two-step mechanism. The one-step mechanism is known as the E2 reaction, and the two-step mechanism is known as the E1 reaction. The numbers refer not to the number of steps in the mechanism, but rather to the kinetics of the reaction: E2 is bimolecular (second order) while E1 is unimolecular (first order). In cases where the molecule is able to stabilize an anion but possesses a poor leaving group, a third type of reaction, E1CB, exists. Finally, the pyrolysis of xanthate and acetate esters proceed through an "internal" elimination mechanism, the Ei mechanism.

ReDOx

Redox reactions:

Reduction and Oxidation, a redox reaction is a reaction in which both oxidation and reduction occur. Oxidation and reduction can be defined in terms of change in oxygen or hydrogen content or in terms of electrons.