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Rate-Determining Steps03:08

Rate-Determining Steps

Relating Reaction Mechanisms
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
The concept of rate-determining step can be understood from the analogy of a 4-lane freeway with a short-stretch of traffic-bottleneck caused due to...
Aldehydes and Ketones with Amines: Enamine Formation Mechanism01:14

Aldehydes and Ketones with Amines: Enamine Formation Mechanism

Enamine formation involves the addition of carbonyl compounds to a secondary amine through a series of reactions. The mechanism begins with the generation of carbinolamine, a nucleophilic attack followed by several proton transfer reactions. The hydroxyl group of the carbinolamine is converted into water to make a better leaving group that can push the reaction forward by eliminating a water molecule. In enamine formation, the last step involves the abstraction of a proton from the α carbon to...
Base-Catalyzed Aldol Addition Reaction01:08

Base-Catalyzed Aldol Addition Reaction

As depicted in Figure 1, base-catalyzed aldol addition involves adding two carbonyl compounds in aqueous sodium hydroxide to form a β-hydroxy carbonyl compound.
Amides to Carboxylic Acids: Hydrolysis01:28

Amides to Carboxylic Acids: Hydrolysis

Amides can undergo either acid-catalyzed hydrolysis or base-promoted hydrolysis through a typical nucleophilic acyl substitution. Each hydrolysis requires severe conditions.
Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis:
Hydrolysis of amides under acidic conditions yields carboxylic acids. Since the reaction occurs slowly, hydrolysis requires the conditions of heat.
The mechanism begins with the protonation of the carbonyl oxygen by the acid catalyst. The protonation makes the amide carbonyl carbon more...
Preparation of 1° Amines: Hofmann and Curtius Rearrangement Mechanism01:26

Preparation of 1° Amines: Hofmann and Curtius Rearrangement Mechanism

The Hofmann and Curtius rearrangement reactions can be applied to synthesize primary amines from carboxylic acid derivatives such as amides and acyl azides. In the Hofmann rearrangement, a primary amide undergoes deprotonation in the presence of a base, followed by halogenation to generate an N-haloamide. A second proton abstraction produces a stabilized anionic species, which rearranges to an isocyanate intermediate via an alkyl group migration from the carbonyl carbon to the neighboring...
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration02:36

Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration

A significant aspect of hydroboration–oxidation is the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the reaction.
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn stereochemistry.