Organic Chemistry Questions
Bring on the tough stuff
1. Explain why fluorine and chlorine have similar reactivity.
Questions 2-4 Draw Lewis Structures for each of the following:
2. NH3
3.CO2
4. H2O
5. Draw the product of this reaction:
6. Why are hydrocarbons thought of as scaffolds for functional groups?
7. How does the addition of functional groups enhance the properties of a hydrocarbon?
8. Why do hydrocarbons have covalent bonds instead of ionic bonds?
9. Why can you add halogens to alkenes but not alkanes?
10. How does a chiral carbon increase the number of isomers?
Possible Answers
1. Explain why fluorine and chlorine have similar reactivity.
Both Fluorine and Chlorine have the same number of valence electrons (7), making them extremely reactive.
Questions 2-4 Draw Lewis Structures for each of the following:
2. NH3
3.CO2
4. H2O
Answers for 2-4:
5. Draw the product of this reaction:
6. Why are hydrocarbons thought of as scaffolds for functional groups?
Hydrocarbons are not reactive (except for combustion) on their own. They need functional groups to be attached to them for reactions to occur.
7. How does the addition of functional groups enhance the properties of a hydrocarbon?
The addition of functional groups allows hydrocarbons to react with each other, as well as other molecules. An example is that functional groups containing oxygen allow hydrocarbons to interact with water through hydrogen bonding.
8. Why do hydrocarbons have covalent bonds instead of ionic bonds?
Ionic bonds happen between metals and non-metals, or ions. Hydrocarbons contain neither metals nor ions.
9. Why can you add halogens to alkenes but not alkanes?
Alkenes contain a double bond, which can be reduced to a single bond by the addition of electrons (supplied by the halogens). Alkanes do not have any space for the addition of additional electrons.
10. How does a chiral carbon increase the number of isomers?
A chiral carbon has 4 isomers. These isomers can happen when the four different side chains surrounding the chiral carbon are rearranged. Therefore, we have 4 isomers alone on one carbon.