Freshman Organic Chemistry 2 J. Michael McBride

Reactions of carboxylic acids and their salts include nucleophilic substitution and decarboxylation to leave enols, free radicals, or alkyl halides. A review of the IR spectroscopy of acid derivatives includes the use of vibrational coupling in the structure determination of anhydrides and imides. Many acid derivatives can be interconverted by substitution through a tetrahedral intermediate, and differences in acidity can be used to drive such reactions toward completion. Reduction of acid derivatives illustrates the challenge of designing selective reactions. Acidic and basic mechanisms allow conversion of nitriles to carboxylic acids. Ketenes provide routes to several acid derivatives. The Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of ketones to esters illustrates atom insertion into acyl-R bonds.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.

Painstaking studies of his “hexaphenylethane” and its reactivity convinced Gomberg that he had prepared the first trivalent carbon compound, triphenylmethyl radical, the discovery of which marked the emergence of fundamental organic chemistry in America. Isotopic labeling could decide whether protonated cyclopropane plays a role in Friedel-Crafts alkylation. C-13 NMR spectra of aldehydes and ketones show how characteristic chemical shifts are established empirically. The carbonyl group is thermodynamically stable but kinetically reactive. Its acid- and base-catalyzed reactions often involve loss of an [gr]α-proton to form an enol or enolate intermediate. Carboxylic acids display four fundamentally different reaction patterns. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of acetals illustrates a multistep reaction mechanism involving the carbonyl group.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.

The coincidentally substantial extent of ionic dissociation of water provides an example of Brønsted acidity, or nucleophilic substitution at hydrogen. Relative pKa values are insensitive enough to solvent that they provide insight on the role of energy-match, overlap, and resonance in ionic dissociation. The titration of alanine in water illustrates the experimental determination of pKa values and the phenomenon of buffering. The limited pKa scale in water can be extended dramatically by titration in other solvents, providing one of the best ways to measure many “effects” in organic chemistry. A wide range of important organic reactions discovered in the 19th century and many biochemical reactions can be understood under the rubric of nucleophilic substitution.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.

Discoverers of the structure and biological activity of steroid hormones won seven Nobel Prizes between 1927 and 1975. Studying the steps involved in Woodward’s 1951 “total” synthesis of cortisone provides a review of the organic reactions covered this semester. Many steps involved novel insights, others were based on lore from previous work In the area. The overall yield of such sequential syntheses is typically much lower than that of convergent syntheses. Practical syntheses of cortisone were based on modification of related steroids readily available from nature. Milestones in total synthesis include both purely intellectual work with natural products and commercially important synthesis of designed pharmaceuticals. The course ends with thanks to those, young and old, who have taught us all.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.

Modern spectroscopic tools show not only the constitution, configuration, and conformation of glucose but also how it interconverts between isomeric hemiketal pyranose rings. One of mankind’s great accomplishments was determinining its constitution and especially its configuration before such spectroscopy. By 1887 Heinrich Kiliani had established the constitution of glucose as an aldohexose, and with help from Emil Fischer, he developed a method for homologating aldoses. Fisher assembled a great deal of experimental evidence on interconversion of natural and artificial aldoses, and their derivatives, especially their crystalline osazones. In 1892 he used this evidence to prove logically which of eight aldohexose configurations corresponds to glucose and to provide definitive support for van’t Hoff’s stereochemical theory. In 1991 Cram, Tanner, and Thomas reported the NMR spectrum of antiaromatic cyclobutadiene, which they prepared by photolysis inside a clamshell molecule that they designed and constructed in order to isolate this highly reactive molecule.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.

As in many synthetic procedures, an important challenge in ketone alkylation is choosing reagents and conditions that allow control of isomerism and of single vs. multiple substitution. [gr]β-Dicarbonyl compounds allow convenient alkylation and preparation of ketones and carboxylic acids. The aldol condensation, in which an [gr]a-position adds to a carbonyl group to generate a [gr]β-hydroxy- or an [gr]α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound, can be driven to completion by removal of water. The Robinson annulation reaction is an important example of conjugate addition to [gr]α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. [gr]α-Acylation of esters as in the Claisen condensation is a key step in the biosynthesis of fatty acids. Determining the constitutional structure of sugars posed a daunting challenge to early carbohydrate chemists.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.