(3S,4S)-1-Benzyl-pyrrolidine-3,4-diol

Overview
Alcohols are one of the most important functional groups in organic chemistry. The name of alcohol comes from the hydrocarbon from which it is derived. Alcohols are organic molecules containing the functional hydroxyl or –OH group directly bonded to carbon. Phenols have an OH group directly attached to a benzene ring. While alcohols are colorless, phenol is a white crystalline compound with a characteristic "hospital smell" odor.
As with other organic compounds, alcohols and phenols...

Simple unsubstituted benzene has six aromatic protons, all chemically equivalent. Therefore, benzene exhibits only a singlet peak at δ 7.3 ppm in the 1H NMR spectrum. The observed shift is far downfield because the aromatic ring current strongly deshields the protons. Any substitution on the benzene ring makes the aromatic protons nonequivalent, and the protons split each other. The peak is, therefore, no longer a singlet and the splitting pattern and their associated coupling constants depend...

Conjugated dienes have lower heats of hydrogenation than cumulated and isolated dienes, making them more stable. The enhanced stabilization of conjugated systems can be understood from their π molecular orbitals.
The simplest conjugated diene is 1,3-butadiene: a four-carbon system where each carbon is sp2-hybridized and has an unhybridized p orbital that contains an unpaired electron. According to molecular orbital theory, atomic orbitals combine to form molecular orbitals such that the number...

When more than one substituent is present on the benzene ring, the IUPAC nomenclature depends on the number of substituents present.
For disubstituted benzene derivatives, with two groups attached to the benzene ring, three constitutional isomers are possible. For example, consider dimethyl benzene, often called xylene, where the second methyl group can be substituted at the second, third, or fourth carbon. The relative position of the substituents is represented by prefixes ortho, meta, or...

Simple aryl halides do not react with nucleophiles under normal conditions. However, the reaction can proceed under drastic conditions involving high temperatures and high pressure to give the substituted products. For example, chlorobenzene is converted to phenol using aqueous sodium hydroxide at 350 °C under high pressure by the Dow process. The reaction follows an elimination-addition mechanism involving a benzyne intermediate. Here, the chloride ion is eliminated to generate the benzyne...

Compounds bearing two hydroxyl groups are known as diols. When the hydroxyl groups are located on adjacent carbon atoms, the diols are called vicinal diols or glycols. Under acidic conditions, vicinal diols undergo a specific reaction called pinacol rearrangement.
The reaction begins with transferring a proton from the acid catalyst to one of the hydroxyl groups, producing an oxonium ion.