Bioorganic Chemistry 4 min read
Transition state
The transition state of a chemical reaction is a particular configuration along the reaction coordinate. It is defined as the state corresponding to the highest…
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Bioorganic Chemistry 1 min read
Ester Enolates
we introduced the enolates of aldehydes and ketones (review) and looked at their reactions as C nucleophiles (review). These enolates were formed…
Bioorganic Chemistry 3 min read
Acid-Catalyzed Ester Hydrolysis
Water the Destroyer Imagine that water, the stuff you drink everyday, is actually a superhero with a cape, bulging muscles,…
Bioorganic Chemistry 2 min read
Reaction with Primary Amines to form Imines
The reaction of aldehydes and ketones with ammonia or 1º-amines forms imine derivatives, also known as Schiff bases (compounds having a C=N…
Bioorganic Chemistry 6 min read
Nomenclature of Aldehydes & Ketones
Aldehydes and ketones contain the carbonyl group. Aldehydes are considered the most important functional group. They are often called the…
Bioorganic Chemistry 2 min read
Acetal Formation
Introduction It has been demonstrated that water adds rapidly to the carbonyl function of aldehydes and ketones to form geminal-diol.…
Bioorganic Chemistry 2 min read
Definition of Steric Effect
In general, the steric effect refers from the fact that the atoms composing molecules occupy some degree of space, and when atoms…
Bioorganic Chemistry 3 min read
What is a Nucleophile?
Nucleophiles are basically electron rich species which have the ability to donate electron pairs, as discussed earlier. Because of this electron pair…
Bioorganic Chemistry 9 min read
Nucleophilic Substitution, SN2, SN1
Let’s begin by recalling a couple of reactions which occur with alkyl halides, but only work well when the alkyl…
Bioorganic Chemistry 10 min read
The peptide bond and primary structure of proteins
The primary structure of a protein is defined as the sequence of amino acids of which it is composed. This sequence ultimately…
Bioorganic Chemistry 3 min read
Optical Activity
Optical activity is the ability of a chiral molecule to rotate the plane of plane-polairsed light, measured using a polarimeter. A simple…
Bioorganic Chemistry 3 min read
Cis-Trans Isomerism in Cycloalkanes
Previously, constitutional isomers were defined as molecules that had the same molecular formula, but different atom connectivity. In this section,…