Structural Properties
Alkyl halides are halogen-substituted alkanes wherein one or more hydrogen atoms of an alkane is replaced by a halogen atom such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine. The carbon atom in an alkyl halide is bonded to the halogen atom, which is sp3-hybridized and exhibits a tetrahedral shape.
Unlike alkyl halides, compounds in which a halogen atom is bonded to an sp2 -hybridized carbon atom of a carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) are called vinyl halides. Whereas aryl...

The radical dimerization of ketones or aldehydes gives vicinal diols through a pinacol coupling reaction. However, the behavior of titanium metals used for the reaction as a source of electrons is unusual. When the reaction is carried out in the presence of titanium, diols can be isolated at low temperatures. Else titanium further reacts with diols, forming alkenes through the McMurry reaction.

Intramolecular aldol reaction occurs in dicarbonyl compounds such as dialdehydes, diketones, and keto-aldehydes. The dicarbonyl compounds possess more than one nucleophilic ⍺ carbon for the base to deprotonate and form the enolates. For example, in symmetrical diketones, there are four ⍺ carbons. Hence, four types of enolates are possible when treated with a base. However, since the molecule is symmetrical, the enolates formed on either side of one carbonyl group are equivalent to those formed...

Group 1 elements are soft and shiny metallic solids. They are malleable, ductile, and good conductors of heat and electricity. The melting points of the alkali metals are unusually low for metals and decrease going down the group, while the density increases going down the group with the exception of potassium (Table 1).
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals

Oxymercuration–reduction of alkenes is one of the major reactions converting alkenes to alcohols. It involves the hydration of alkenes with mercuric acetate in a mixture of tetrahydrofuran and water, forming an organomercury adduct. This is followed by a demercuration step in which the adduct is reduced to an alcohol using sodium borohydride.

The Cannizzaro reaction is a base-promoted redox reaction producing a primary alcohol and a carboxylic acid from two molecules of a nonenolizable aldehyde. The reaction commences when the anionic counterpart of the base attacks the carbonyl carbon, resulting in a tetrahedral alkoxide intermediate. The base then abstracts a proton from the intermediate to generate an unstable dianionic species. This intermediate enables the release of the aldehydic hydrogen as a hydride ion. An intermolecular...