Core Investigative Skills

To complete the investigations you will need to hone your investigative skills. Below are a series of examples, they focus on particular aspects of reaction mechanisms and will help you with the investigations section.

Examples: Some example mechanisms.

Introduction Paracetamol Aspirin Lidocaine Mustard gas

Core Background: Background on reaction mechanisms

Skeletal representations Functional group recognition Reaction types How many bonds can an atom form? Double-headed curly arrows - single bonds Balancing charges Single-headed curly arrows Double-headed curly arrows - carbonyl bonds Double-headed curly arrows - CC double bonds

Substrate Inspection: Examining the substrate can give clues to the recation mechanism.

Leaving groups Carbocations Electron poor substrates Electron rich substrates

Reagent Inspection: Inspecting the reagents can give clues to the reaction mechanism.

Electrophilic reagents Nucleophiles and bases Radicals Solvent types

Reaction mechanisms: Reaction Mechanisms.

Nucleophilic addition Nucleophilic addition elimination Electrophilic addition Electrophilic aromatic substitution Radical substitution Radical addition Nucleophilic substitution Elimination