Organic Test 2

the minimum kinetic energy the molecules must have to overcome the repulsions between their electron clouds when they collide. Represents the energy difference between the reactands and the transition state

The highest-energy state in a molecular collision that leads to reaction. This configuration is the transition between the reactants and products, and the molecules can either go on to products or return to reactants. A transition state is unstable and cannot be isolated

A species that exists for some finite length of time, even if it is very short. An intermediate has at least some stability.

Creates a transition state of lower energy, thereby lowering the activation energy and increasing the reaction rate.

Controls the overall reaction rate. The highest energy step of a multistep reaction is the “bottleneck,” and it determines the overall reaction rate. If we have the reaction-energy diagram, the highest point in the energy diagram is the transition state with the highest energy– generally the transition state for the rate-limiting step.

fluorine reacts explosively with methane, and chlorine reacts at a moderate rate. A mixture of bromine and methane must be heated to react, and iodine does not react at all.

Carbenes are uncharged reactive intermediates containing a divalent carbon atom. The simplest carbene has the formula :CH2 and is called methylene, just as a - CH2 - group in a molecule is called a methylene group.

(structural isomers) differ in their bonding sequence, their atoms are connected differently.

have the same bonding sequence, but they differ in the orientation of their atoms in space

Non superimposable mirror image (“handed”) different from mirror image, having an enantiomer

(not chiral) superimposable mirror image (“not handed”) identical with its mirror image; not chiral

mirror-image isomers; pairs of compounds that are nonsuperimposable mirror images

• Assign a “priority” to each group bonded to the asymmetric carbon. Atoms with higher atomic numbers receive higher priorities a) Atoms with higher atomic numbers receive higher priorities b) In case of ties, use the next atoms along the chain of each group as tiebreakers c) Treat double and triple bonds as if each were a bond to a separate atom. • Put the fourth-priority group away from you. Draw an arrow from the first-priority group to the 2nd. Clockwise= R, counter-clockwise=S.

Rotation of the plane of polarized light

Optically inactive, a solution of equal amounts of two enantiomers