How are molecular structures determined? One way is though the use of spectroscopic methods. Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction of energy with matter. When energy is applied to matter it can be absorbed, emitted, cause a chemical change, or be transmitted

There is a group of compounds in which carbon forms only two bonds. These neutral divalent carbon compounds are called carbenes. Most carbenes are highly unstable compounds that are capable of only fleeting existence. Soon after carbenes are formed they usually react with another molecule

Conjugated unsaturated systems have a p orbital on a carbon adjacent to a double bond The p orbital can come from another double or triple bond The p orbital may be the empty p orbital of a carbocation or a p orbital with a single electron in it (a radical)

In the addition of HX to an unsymmetrically substituted alkene, the hydrogen atom adds to the carbon atom of the double bond that already has the greater number of hydrogen atoms and that the X group adds to the carbon having more alkyl substituents. Markovnikov’s rule can be restated by saying that, in the addition of HX to an alkene, the more stable carbocation intermediate is formed

The reactivity of organometallic compounds increases with the percent ionic character of the carbon-metal bond. RLi and RMgX are of great importance in organic synthesis

1. The experimental conditions — temperature and acid concentration — that are required to being about dehydration are closely related to the structure of the individual alcohol. The relative ease with which alcohols undergo dehydration is in the following order:

Primary alcohols can be oxidized to aldehydes and carboxylic acids

SN2 reactions are highly useful in organic synthesis because they enable use to convert one functional group into another —— functional group transformation (functional group interconversion)

First order overall (一级反应) The reaction is a unimolecular nucleophilic substitution（单分子亲核取代反应）

The C—X bond of alkyl halides is polarized. The carbon atom bears a partial positive charge, The halogen atom a partial negative charge