Chem 242 @ Dickinson

One week down, 13 to go

Today was a day to talk about the C=O system. At the beginning of class we looked at how molecular modeling indicates the polarization of the bond in terms of partial charges. We also saw that the LUMO corresponded closely the pi-system of the double bond and nearby C-H bonds. An analysis of the LUMO density showed that even though the LUMO took up a pretty big volume of space, any nucleophile would be most likely attracted to the C of the C=O.

We showed how these C=O systems can be converted into alcohols by treatment with a nucleophile, followed by protonation. In order to get "standard" alcohols, a hydrogen or carbon nucleophile must be used -- we looked at the examples of sodium borohydride, lithium aluminum hydride, and Grignard reagents. It is important to be able to draw the arrows for such reactions correctly; Problem Set #1 will give you practice at this.

I have posted the to-do list for the week of Sept 4 to the right.

posted by DCChem @ 3:08 PM