More on Reactions......

Today started with a group activity in which you had to show the curved arrows for a two-step reaction. This type of problem is central to the subject -- someone learning organic chemistry must learn to draw curved arrows to show the mechanism (electron movement) of a reaction. I showed some strategies for how to solved these problems. Essentially, it boils down to four basic rules: 1) find the Lewis base (anion, lone pair, multiple bond); 2) find the Lewis acid (cation, partial positive charge); 3) draw the curved arrow(s), which must start at the Lewis base and go to the Lewis acid; and 4) don't violate the octet rule! Hopefully, you are able to recognize the relationship between the kinds of arrows that we drew today and those we drew for the standard acid/base reactions that were the subject of the acid/base problem set a few weeks ago.