Atomic theory At the end of the XIX, it was known that the elements were made of one atom, unbreakable and different for each element. The masses of the atoms were known for several elements but their composition was still
Chapter 9: Reactions in organic chemistry: Nucleophilic reactions
We will now discuss the types of reactions that can be performed on organic compounds. In this first year lessons, we will only focus on one of the most used reactions: the nucleophilic substitution (SN). A substitution reaction is indeed the base of
Chapter 8: Functional groups
Other than alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and halogenoalkanes, there is a large number of functional groups that can be found in organic chemistry. In this first year, we will only take a look on the richness of possibilities that organic chemistry
Chapter 7: cycloalkanes
Cycloalkanes A cycloalkane is, as it name shows, a cyclic alkane chain. Each carbon of the chain is bound to (at least) two carbons and two hydrogen’s. The general formula is thus CnH2n and the name of the compound is the same name as
Chapter 6: alkenes and alkynes
Alkenes Alkenes are organic compounds made of carbons and hydrogens. Opposite to alkanes, which have the same components, the general formula of alkenes is not CnH2n+2. Into an alkene, two carbons are bound by a pi liaison (also called double
Chapter 5: Organic chemistry, structure and names of alkanes
Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon and its compounds. Carbon is one element of the Mendeleev table among many others, so why is there a complete section of chemistry related to this particular element? Carbon has a valence of 4 and
Chapter 4 : Neutralization and titration
Neutralization A neutralization reaction is the reaction occurring between an acid and a base forming a salt and water. Technically, the neutralisation is not a one step reaction in the sense that all the actions are not done simultaneously but step by
Chapter 3 : Strength of acids and bases
The general definition of an acid is thus a compound releasing protons. However, all the acids don’t have the same strength or acidity. We can define two types of acids and bases: Strong acids and bases, and weak acids and bases. For more simplicity,
Chapter 2 : acid-base reactions
In this module we will review one of the main types of reaction of chemistry. Reactions can indeed be classified in 3 major categories: Acid-base reactions Redox (reduction and oxidation) reactions Solubility reactions (dissolution and precipitation) The two last reaction
Chapter 1: history of chemistry and chemical reactions
It is often useful to take a look on the history of something to understand it. That is how we will begin our lessons about chemistry. As far as we can go, chemistry started with the discovery of fire, which