NICE ONE TO REMEMBER ALD. & KETO..

Ask Questions
Simple, right? Wrong. Far too many students do not ask questions. You have many opportunities to clear up the unclear: during class, after class, in my office, at recitation, in lab. Take advantage of me. That's why I'm here. Ask.
My favorite questions are of the type: "I worked this problem and got a different answer than the one in the book. I thought that this functional group did that but in this case I guess it doesn't. Why?"
My least favorite questions are of the types: " I don't get chapter 6?" and "What will be on the quiz?"

Hope this info will be helpful to u all...........

The Daily Work-Out
The basketball player, the swimmer, the violinist, the dancer, the student of foreign language, all of them practice daily if they are to succeed and improve. Organic chemistry takes time and practice. It takes discipline and planning. But so does weight training.
Just do it.

Learn, Don't Memorize
Organic chemistry consists of a few basic principles and many extensions and applications of these principles. There IS rhyme and reason to organic chemistry. Relatively little memorization is required if you grasp the major concepts and develop flexibility in applying those concepts.
Some facts and fundamentals must be learned (memorized) in order that you have a working "vocabulary." So one of your main tasks is to identify the key ideas, learn them, and then apply them. Do not attempt to memorize your way through this course. It does not work. There are more than 14,000,000 organic compounds known, and you will never be able to guess which ones might be chosen as examples.

More Survival Tips

Keep Up
Falling behind is death. And once you are behind, it is even harder to catch up while staying on top of the new material. So don't dig this hole for yourself. Start right now and keep on schedule.
You cannot see how the material you cover today will be used again three chapters from now. But it will. By focusing on basis principles, you will see that the same reactions keep appearing over and over again. The specific details will change, but the principles remain the same.
If you fail to comprehend something now, you set yourself up for compounded problems later. Deal with the issue now, while it is fresh in your mind. The best way to keep up is to plan to do organic every day. Weekends included.

THESE R SOME OF THE THOUGHTS HOW TO LEARN ORG. CHEM...

You have probably heard horror stories about this class. About how organic is the hardest course, the flunk-out course, etc. You may feel overwhelmed by the number of compounds, names, reactions, and mechanisms that confront you. My suggestion to you is to read these pages and take the suggestions to heart.
Personally, I think organic chemistry is a great lot of fun. I want you to enjoy this class as much as I do, but I can't learn the material for you. Sorry.
If you are to be a successful student of organic chemistry, you must discover for yourself how to learn chemistry. Different people learn, take in, process, and integrate information, differently. What works for you will not always work for someone else. An explanation that clarifies for one person will simply add more confusion for another. Try lots of things until you find the ones that work for you.

Important Rules to Live By If You Wish to Succeed in CHEM211
1. Work the Problems

2. Don't Get Behind
You ignore these rules at your peril.

On Studying:

Organic chemistry cannot be learned the night before the exam.
Don't even try.

Learning chemistry, or any subject, involves practice. Far too many students attempt to prepare for an exam by spending hours and hours in the day and a half before the test, shoving loose pieces of random information at their heads. No wonder many folks are frustrated by their performance in the class.

One analogy that works for me is that learning organic chemistry is like learning to play the piano. (Okay, so I'm a pianist, shoot me.) You do not sit down in front of the keyboard the evening before the recital and attempt to learn the A minor 2-Part Invention by Bach. In order to play at all, you need to practice every day in the preceeding weeks and months (and years).

Organic chemistry cannot be learned the night before the exam. Don't even try. You must practice every day - read, listen, work problems, re-read, take notes, re-organize ideas, ask questions.

Michael reaction The Michael reaction or Michael addition is the nucleophilic addition of a carbanion to an alpha, beta unsaturated carbonyl compound. It belongs to the larger class of conjugate additions. This is one of the most useful methods for the mild formation of C-C bonds. Many asymmetric variants exist. In this scheme the R and R' substituents on the nucleophile are electron-withdrawing groups such as acyl and cyano making the methylene hydrogen acidic forming the carbanion on reaction with base B:. The substituent on the activated alkene is usually a ketone making it an enone but it can also be a nitro group.

As originally defined by Arthur Michael,[3][4] the reaction is the addition of an enolate of a ketone or aldehyde to an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound at the β carbon. A newer definition, proposed by Kohler,[5] is the 1,4-addition of a doubly stabilized carbon nucleophile to an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound. Some examples of nucleophiles include beta-ketoesters, malonates, and beta-cyanoesters. The resulting product contains a highly useful 1,5-dioxygenated pattern.

Classical examples of the Michael reaction are the reaction between diethyl malonate (Michael acceptor) and diethyl fumarate, that of mesityl oxide and diethyl malonate, that of diethyl malonate and methyl crotonate, that of 2-nitropropane and methyl acrylate, that of ethyl phenylcyanoacetate and acrylonitrile and that of nitropropane and methyl vinyl ketone.

The Michael addition is an important atom-economical method for diastereoselective and enantioselective C-C bond formation. A classical tandem sequence of Michael and aldol additions is the Robinson annulation.

Hydride Reductions of Aldehydes and Ketones
[

Reactions usually in Et2O or THF followed by H3O+ work-ups
Reaction type: Nucleophilic Addition
Summary

Aldehydes and ketones are most readily reduced with hydride reagents.
The reducing agents LiAlH4 and NaBH4 act as a source of 4H- (hydride ion).
Overall 2 H atoms are added across the C=O to give H-C-O-H.
Hydride reacts with the carbonyl group, C=O, in aldehydes or ketones to give alcohols.
The substituents on the carbonyl dictate the nature of the product alcohol.
Reduction of methanal (formaldehyde) gives methanol.
Reduction of other aldehydes gives primary alcohols.
Reduction of ketones gives secondary alcohols.
The acidic work-up converts an intermediate metal alkoxide salt into the desired alcohol via a simple acid base reaction.

Nucleophilic Addition Reactions

Strong nucleophiles (anionic) add directly to the C=O to form the intermediate alkoxide. The alkoxides are then protonated on work-up with dilute acid.

Examples of such nucleophilic systems are : RMgX, RLi, RCºCM, LiAlH4, NaBH4

Weaker nucleophiles (neutral) require that the C=O be activated prior to attack of the Nu.
This can be done using a acid catalyst which protonates on the Lewis basic O and makes the system more electrophilic.

Examples of such nucleophilic systems are : H2O, ROH, R-NH2