Practical Approach for the Identification of Functional Groups in Organic Compounds

Organic reactions are chemical reactions involving organic compounds. The basic organic chemistry reaction types are addition reactions, elimination reactions, substitution reactions, pericyclic reactions, rearrangement reactions, photochemical reactions and redox reactions. In organic synthesis, organic reactions are used in the construction of new organic molecules. The production of many man-made chemicals such as the production of pharmaceuticals drugs, plastics, food additives, fabrics depend on organic reactions. Factors governing organic reactions are essentially the same as that of any chemical reaction. Factors specific to organic reactions are those that determine the stability of reactants and products such as conjugation, hyperconjugation and aromaticity and the presence and stability of reactive intermediates such as free radicals, carbocations and carbanions. An organic compound may consist of many isomers. Selectivity in terms of regioselectivity, diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity is therefore an important criterion for many organic reactions. There is no limit to the number of possible organic reactions and mechanisms. However, certain general patterns are observed that can be used to describe many common or useful reactions. Each reaction has a stepwise reaction mechanism that explains how it happens, although this detailed description of steps is not always clear from a list of reactants alone. Organic reactions can be organized into several basic types. Some reactions fit into more than one category. For example, some substitution reactions follow an addition-elimination pathway. This overview isn t intended to include every single organic reaction. Rather, it is intended to cover the basic reactions.