BRAINCAKEIdentifying Functional Groups
A functional group is the group of atoms responsible for the characteristic reactions of a compound. Many molecules used in synthesis and medicine contain several functional groups, and you need to pick out each one.
Key groups at AS level:
• alkene: C=C
• alcohol: C-OH (primary, secondary or tertiary)
• haloalkane: C-X, where X is F, Cl, Br or I
• aldehyde: -CHO, a C=O at the end of a chain
• ketone: a C=O between two carbon atoms
• carboxylic acid: -COOH
• ester: -COO- between two carbon groups
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More in Organic Synthesis
- Heating under Reflux
- Distillation
- Using a Separating Funnel
- Drying an Organic Liquid
- Redistillation and Purification
- Two-Stage Synthetic Routes
- Predicting Properties from Functional Groups
All 8 lessons in Organic Synthesis · All OCR AS-level Chemistry topics