Aldol condensation
Carbonyl enolate addition followed by dehydration to form alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds.
Open guideReaction reference
Organic Reaction Guides and Chemical Reaction Drawer
Fast reference pages for highly searched organic reactions. Each guide includes a concise scheme, two common examples, reaction SMILES, key conditions, and an edit-in-MolDraw button. Use the chemical reaction drawer to sketch reactants, products, arrows, reagents, and conditions online.
Wittig reaction
Conversion of aldehydes or ketones to alkenes using phosphonium ylides.
Open guideGrignard reaction
Carbon-carbon bond formation using organomagnesium reagents and carbonyl electrophiles.
Open guideSuzuki coupling
Palladium-catalyzed coupling of aryl halides and boronic acids to form biaryls.
Open guideHeck reaction
Palladium-catalyzed arylation or vinylation of alkenes.
Open guideFriedel-Crafts acylation
Electrophilic aromatic substitution that installs an acyl group on an aromatic ring.
Open guideDiels-Alder reaction
Concerted cycloaddition between a conjugated diene and dienophile to form cyclohexenes.
Open guideName reactions
Name reactions with full mechanisms
Every curly-arrow step, checked electron by electron, with conditions, JEE/NEET notes and a button that opens the complete mechanism in MolDraw.
Reimer–Tiemann Reaction
The Reimer–Tiemann reaction turns phenol into salicylaldehyde (2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) with chloroform and aqueous sodium hydroxide.
Mechanism guideKolbe–Schmitt Reaction
In the Kolbe–Schmitt reaction (often called the Kolbe reaction in Indian syllabuses) sodium phenoxide is heated with carbon dioxide under pressure.
Mechanism guideHofmann Bromamide Reaction
The Hofmann bromamide reaction converts a primary amide into a primary amine with one carbon fewer, using bromine and sodium hydroxide.
Mechanism guideSandmeyer Reaction
The Sandmeyer reaction replaces the diazonium group of an arenediazonium salt by Cl, Br or CN using the copper(I) salt.
Mechanism guideGabriel Phthalimide Synthesis
The Gabriel synthesis makes pure primary amines.
Mechanism guideWilliamson Ether Synthesis
The Williamson ether synthesis makes ethers by an SN2 reaction between an alkoxide (or phenoxide) and a methyl or primary alkyl halide.
Mechanism guideCannizzaro Reaction
In the Cannizzaro reaction an aldehyde without α-hydrogens (HCHO, benzaldehyde, pivalaldehyde) disproportionates in concentrated base: one molecule is oxidised to the carboxylate and another is reduced to the alcohol.
Mechanism guideWolff–Kishner Reduction
The Wolff–Kishner reduction converts the C=O of an aldehyde or ketone into CH₂.
Mechanism guideHell–Volhard–Zelinsky Reaction
The Hell–Volhard–Zelinsky (HVZ) reaction brominates a carboxylic acid at the α-carbon.
Mechanism guideIodoform (Haloform) Reaction
Methyl ketones (CH₃CO–) and alcohols that oxidise to them (CH₃CH(OH)–) react with iodine and sodium hydroxide to give a yellow precipitate of iodoform, CHI₃.
Mechanism guideDiazotization Reaction
Diazotization converts a primary aromatic amine into an arenediazonium salt with sodium nitrite and a mineral acid at 0–5 °C.
Mechanism guideAzo Coupling Reaction
In azo coupling an arenediazonium ion acts as a weak electrophile towards strongly activated rings — phenoxides and anilines.
Mechanism guideClaisen Condensation
The Claisen condensation joins two ester molecules into a β-keto ester.
Mechanism guideBeckmann Rearrangement
In the Beckmann rearrangement a ketoxime is converted into an amide by acid (H₂SO₄, PCl₅, SOCl₂, polyphosphoric acid).
Mechanism guidePinacol–Pinacolone Rearrangement
Pinacol (2,3-dimethylbutane-2,3-diol) rearranges in acid to pinacolone (3,3-dimethylbutan-2-one).
Mechanism guideBaeyer–Villiger Oxidation
The Baeyer–Villiger oxidation inserts an oxygen atom between a carbonyl carbon and one of its neighbours, turning ketones into esters and cyclic ketones into lactones.
Mechanism guideBenzoin Condensation
In the benzoin condensation two molecules of an aromatic aldehyde join to form an α-hydroxy ketone (benzoin) under catalysis by cyanide.
Mechanism guideHydroboration–Oxidation
Hydroboration–oxidation converts an alkene into an alcohol with the OH on the less substituted carbon (anti-Markovnikov) and with syn addition of H and OH.
Mechanism guideOzonolysis
Ozonolysis cleaves a carbon–carbon double bond into two carbonyl groups.
Mechanism guideSwern Oxidation
The Swern oxidation turns primary alcohols into aldehydes and secondary alcohols into ketones without over-oxidation or heavy metals.
Mechanism guideMitsunobu Reaction
The Mitsunobu reaction converts an alcohol into an ester (or ether, imide, azide) with clean inversion at the alcohol carbon.
Mechanism guideCurtius Rearrangement
In the Curtius rearrangement an acyl azide loses nitrogen on heating while its R group moves from carbon to nitrogen, giving an isocyanate.
Mechanism guideFriedel–Crafts Alkylation
Friedel–Crafts alkylation attaches an alkyl group to an aromatic ring using an alkyl halide and a Lewis acid such as AlCl₃.
Mechanism guideMichael Addition
The Michael addition is the conjugate (1,4-) addition of a stabilised carbanion — a malonate, β-keto ester or nitroalkane anion — to the β-carbon of an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound.
Mechanism guide