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Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: tha on March 24, 2022, 08:53:18 PM

Title: Help with this question, please
Post by: tha on March 24, 2022, 08:53:18 PM

Hey guys, i'm stuck into this question, i'm really freaking out rn, so can someone explain to me what are the products of the alcoholic reactions that are in the photo? I have no idea and I'm almost giving up :)

Thanks!

Title: Re: Help with this question, please
Post by: Babcock_Hall on March 24, 2022, 09:09:06 PM

Can you draw out what you have thought of so far?

Title: Re: Help with this question, please
Post by: Aldebaran on March 25, 2022, 05:10:39 AM

Self help is a great thing: try Googling sodium hydroxide and aldehydes and ketones. This should give you everything you need to answer your own questions.

Title: Re: Help with this question, please
Post by: tha on March 25, 2022, 10:09:43 AM

Quote from: Babcock_Hall on March 24, 2022, 09:09:06 PM

Can you draw out what you have thought of so far?

I got this result, but I don't know if it's correct

Title: Re: Help with this question, please
Post by: OrganicH2O on March 25, 2022, 11:47:17 AM

You are showing the likely first step of the mechanism. Probably, the person who wrote the question is thinking "aldol reaction". The outcomes seem a little ambiguous with no temperature written, especially for the second one because Aldol addition isn't favored at equilibrium when the ketone is the electrophile. Aldol can give two possible products, and the outcome sometimes depends on temperature. But long story short if you think Aldol, you will probably have some reasonable possible answers.