Basics in Organic Reactions Mechanisms
In organic chemistry, the mechanism of an organic reaction is defined as a complete step-by-step explanation of how a reaction of organic compounds happens. A completely detailed mechanism would relate the first structure of the reactants with the last structure of the products and would represent changes in structure and energy all through the reaction step.
Heterolytic Bond Breaking
Heterolytic bond breaking is also known as heterolysis or heterolytic fission or ionic fission. It is defined as breaking of a covalent bond between two different atoms in which one atom gains both of the shared pair of electrons. The atom that gains both electrons is more electronegative than the other atom in covalent bond. The energy needed for heterolytic fission is called as heterolytic bond dissociation energy.
Polar Aprotic Solvent
Solvents that are chemically polar in nature and are not capable of hydrogen bonding (implying that a hydrogen atom directly linked with an electronegative atom is not found) are referred to as polar aprotic solvents. Some commonly used polar aprotic solvents are acetone, DMF, acetonitrile, DMSO, etc.
Oxygen Nucleophiles
Oxygen being an electron rich species with a lone pair electron, can act as a good nucleophile. Typically, oxygen nucleophiles can be found in these compounds- water, hydroxides and alcohols.
Carbon Nucleophiles
We are aware that carbon belongs to group IV and hence does not possess any lone pair of electrons. Implying that neutral carbon is not a nucleophile then how is carbon going to be nucleophilic? The answer to this is that when a carbon atom is attached to a metal (can be seen in the case of organometallic compounds), the metal atom develops a partial positive charge and carbon develops a partial negative charge, hence making carbon nucleophilic.
- Two cyclic compounds, both six-membered rings.
B)
- Two organic molecules. The left one has an ethyl and butyl group with a Cl substituent on the second carbon. The right one is similar but mirrored in configuration.
C)
- Two six-membered cyclic compounds with different substituents at their carbon atoms.
D)
- Two organic molecules, both with one chlorine atom and multiple ethyl groups, but they have different orientations of the chlorine atom and ethyl groups.
E)
- Two larger cyclic structures both having oxygen double-bonded to one of the carbons within the ring.
F)
- Two small cyclic compounds (three-membered ring) containing a chlorine atom, and the structures are mirror images.
G)
 : None of the above molecular pairs are enantiomers.
**Explanation Note:**
Enantiomers are pairs of molecules that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. They often have a chiral center which leads to their different spatial orientations. Check for chiral centers and use models or drawings to determine if they are non-superimposable mirror images.
For students: Review the concept of chirality and practice identifying chiral centers. This will help improve your understanding and ability to determine enantiomers in various organic molecules.](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2F47f16b03-5eea-43fc-9b52-7dcc57452af9%2F95d7f612-a884-4321-87cb-7ab6065a5678%2F31dw1b_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
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