What factors help us in working out mechanisms?
Since there are usually over 100 reaction mechanisms to be studied in the typical two semester Organic sequence, it’s a good idea to have some basic ideas of what to look for in terms of common clues. It will be helpful, and possibly surprising, to see how limited the possibilities actually are and how organizing your thoughts early on will make studying much more efficient and even satisfying.
Below are some suggested topics for study that will help with mechanism, as you first approach it in the first term, but especially as you try to tackle the bigger and more complicated pathways in Organic 2.
stereochemical factors
Stereochemical changes as the consequence of an organic molecule reacting are one of the most important clues as to how that reaction happened. Whether the result shows all possible stereochemical outcomes or a limited few is really helpful in beginning to map out how the changes occurred and whether the pathway was concerted or stepwise. For example, in the substitution reactions encountered early on, what does “inversion” versus “racemic mixture” formation tell us about the processes involved?