Organic Chemistry II

Course contents

Every section in course order, with both cumulative reviews and the final exam. Each section's overview is open to browse, with its lessons and checkpoint listed; the map and list above follow your own progress through the course.

1. Section 1 · Extended Pi Systems

   Conjugated Systems & UV Spectroscopy

   Bridge from Orgo 1 to Orgo 2 by extending isolated pi-bond chemistry to conjugated systems. Learn MO theory basics, electrophilic addition to dienes, the Diels-Alder reaction, and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

2. Section 2 · Benzene and Beyond

   Aromaticity, Part 2

   Deepen your understanding of aromaticity: from benzene's resonance energy to Huckel's rule applied to ions, polycyclic systems, and heterocycles. Learn aromatic nomenclature and how NMR reveals aromatic character.

3. Section 3 · EAS in Depth and Beyond

   Reactions of Aromatic Compounds

   Go beyond the EAS basics from Orgo 1: use the arenium ion to predict reactivity and regiochemistry with multiple substituents, master nucleophilic aromatic substitution and the benzyne mechanism, and learn the side-chain reactions that make multistep aromatic synthesis possible.

4. Section 4 · Reading a Molecule's Fingerprints

   Structure Determination by Spectroscopy

   Learn to determine unknown structures the way chemists actually do it: mass spectrometry for molecular weight and fragments, IR for functional groups, and NMR for the carbon-hydrogen framework, then combine all three to solve real unknowns.

5. Review 1 · Sections 1-4

   Cumulative Review 1

   Test your knowledge across conjugation, aromaticity, aromatic reactions, and spectroscopy. See which topics you've mastered and which need more practice.

6. Section 6 · Carbanions on Demand

   Organometallic Reagents

   Turn alkyl halides into carbanion-like nucleophiles: make Grignard, organolithium, and Gilman reagents and learn the ferocious basicity that constrains them. Then put them to work building C-C bonds with carbonyls, CO2, esters, epoxides, and enones, choosing 1,2- versus 1,4-addition on purpose.

7. Section 7 · The Carbonyl Takes Center Stage

   Aldehydes & Ketones: Nucleophilic Addition

   Master the most important functional group in Orgo 2: how nucleophiles add to the C=O of aldehydes and ketones, from hydride reductions and Grignard additions to acetals, imines, and the Wittig reaction.

8. Section 8 · The Acyl Family

   Carboxylic Acids & Derivatives

   Master the carboxylic acid family: acidity and preparation, the nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanism, the reactivity ladder from acid chlorides to amides, and the ester and amide chemistry that runs biology and industry alike.

9. Section 9 · The Other Side of the Carbonyl

   Enols, Enolates & Alpha-Carbon Chemistry

   Turn the carbonyl into a nucleophile. Learn keto-enol tautomerism, how bases generate enolates, and the alpha-carbon reactions that build carbon skeletons: alpha-halogenation, alkylation, the aldol reaction, and the Claisen condensation.

10. Section 10 · Aldol, Claisen & Michael at Full Power

    Carbonyl Condensations

    Turn enolate chemistry into synthesis power. Control crossed and directed aldols, close rings with Dieckmann and intramolecular aldol condensations, build acids and methyl ketones with the malonic and acetoacetic ester syntheses, and assemble cyclohexenones with Michael additions, Stork enamines, and the Robinson annulation.

11. Review 2 · Aldehydes to Enolates

    Cumulative Review 2

    Test your knowledge across the carbonyl chemistry core: nucleophilic addition to aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acid derivatives, and enolate reactions. See which topics need more practice.

12. Section 12 · Organic Nitrogen

    Amines

    Master the chemistry of organic nitrogen: how structure controls amine basicity, the reliable routes for making amines without over-alkylation, and the reactions that make amines synthetically powerful, including Hofmann elimination and diazonium chemistry.

13. Section 13 · Organic Chemistry Comes Alive

    Biomolecules

    See how the reactions of Orgo 2 build the molecules of life. Study carbohydrates and their cyclic forms, amino acids and peptide bonds, and lipids and nucleic acids, connecting each back to the carbonyl, acetal, and acyl chemistry you already know.

14. Section 14 · Concerted and Orbital-Controlled

    Pericyclic Reactions

    The optional capstone: reactions that happen in one concerted step through a cyclic transition state. Study cycloadditions like the Diels-Alder, electrocyclic ring openings and closings, and sigmatropic rearrangements, all governed by orbital symmetry.

15. Section 15 · The Functional Group Ladder

    Oxidation-Reduction Strategy

    You have met oxidants and reductants one reaction at a time. Now zoom out: place every functional group on the oxidation ladder, then choose the reagent that climbs or descends exactly the rungs you need, from PCC and Jones to NaBH4 and LiAlH4.

16. Section 16 · Solving Unknowns

    Structure Determination Bootcamp

    Put your whole spectroscopy toolkit to work on complete unknowns, presented as exam-style data tables. Learn the five-step workflow from molecular formula to final structure, solve worked unknowns step by step, and master the traps: exchangeable protons, missing molecular ions, hidden symmetry, and look-alike pairs.

17. Section 17 · From Target to Route

    Putting Reactions Together

    Use the reactions you already know to make new molecules: work backward from a drawn target to real starting materials, check each candidate by running it forward, then choose routes whose every step works, including the finishing step, carbon count, aromatic order and protection only where a step needs it.

18. Final exam · Comprehensive Final

    Orgo 2 Final Exam

    A cumulative final covering Organic Chemistry II, including organometallic reactions, carbonyl condensations, selective redox, combined spectroscopy and multistep route planning alongside the earlier course topics.