6.9 How to Approach Synthesis Problems

• We have seen many reactions in this chapter.
• In order to solve synthesis problems, you need to have all of the reactions at your fingertips.
• We saw a few ways to make aldehydes in the beginning of the chapter.
• You are in trouble if you don't.
• At times organic chemistry can get difficult.
• It's not enough to be a master of mechanisms.
• It builds an excellent foundation for understanding the material, and that is an excellent start.
• At the end of the day, you have to be able to solve synthesis problems as well.
• All of the reactions must be organized in your mind in order to do that.

• Two ways to oxidize and an ozonolysis were used to make ketones and aldehydes.

• We saw how hydrazones could be used to reduce the amount of ketones in the air.
• We moved on to three different types of carbon nucleophiles--Grignard reagents, phosphorus ylides, and sulfur ylides.
• We looked at the Baeyer-villiger oxidation's utility for synthesis.
• That is all we saw in this chapter.

• In the last part of the chapter, we will solve synthesis problems.
• To claim that you have them at your fingertips, you need to know these reactions well.
• Try to achieve that goal by doing the following.
• If you can, take a separate piece of paper and write down all of the reactions listed in the paragraph above.
• You need to make sure that you can draw all of the products.
• You are not ready to start thinking about problems if you can't synthesis.
• Students don't know how to approach synthesis problems.
• The student's poor study habits are usually the reason for the difficulty.
• There are synthesis problems that you can do.
• You will get frustrated if you try to run before you learn how to walk.
• There are too many students making this mistake.

• Take my advice and focus on the individual reactions.
• Try to fill out a blank sheet of paper with everything we have done in this chapter.
• If you have to look back into the chapter to get the exact reagents, that's fine.
• Don't think that you are ready for synthesis problems once you have filled out the sheet, it is part of the studying process.
• You can't be ready until you fill out the entire sheet of paper and don't look back.
• Continue filling out a new sheet until you can do it all without looking back.
• You should get to a point where you don't need to look at the summary that we just gave.
• If you can reconstruct the summary in your head, you should be able to write a list of all the reactions.

• It sounds like a lot of work.
• It will take some time.
• You will be in a good position to tackle synthesis problems when you are done.
• If you are frustrated with synthesis problems, don't complain if you get lazy and skip this advice.
• It would be your fault if you tried to run before walking.

• If you get to the point where you have all of the reactions at your fingertips, then you can try to prove it by doing some simple problems.

• We will be able to conquer multistep synthesis problems once we have all of the reactions down cold.

• The product is an enamine, so we will need a nitrogen nucleophile.
• We need to decide what kind of nitrogen is in it.
• We will need a secondary amine since our product is an enamine.

• We need to decide if there are any special conditions.
• There are special conditions for the reaction between a ketone and a secondary amine.
• We need acid-catalysis and Dean-Stark conditions.

• If you get stuck on a few problems, it might be helpful for you to fill them out again in the future.
• The problems are not listed in the order in which they appear.

• If you were comfortable with the problems, you should be able to solve them.

• This transformation is more involved than the previous problems because it can't be done in one step.
• While maintaining the presence of the carbonyl group, we need to install an ethyl group.

• We have a two-step synthesis to accomplish this transformation.

• There is a point to be made about synthesis problems.

• The product is an enamine if we focus on it.
• There is only one way to make an enamine.

• We need to find a way to convert the starting compound into a ketone.
• An oxidation reaction can be used to convert alcohol into a ketone.

• The last problem was easy because it had a two-step solution.

• That is beyond the scope of the course.
• You won't have to deal with more than three to five steps.
• It is possible to become a master of solving synthesis problems with a lot of practice.
• It all depends on how well you know the reactions.

• There is rarely only one answer to a synthesis problem, as you work through the following problems.
• There are many correct ways to achieve a transformation as we learn more.
• Don't think that you have to find the answer.
• You may be able to come up with a perfectly acceptable answer that no one else in the class would think of.
• The most exciting moments are those.
• When you solve synthesis problems, there is room for creativity.

• Suggest an efficient synthesis for each problem.
• There could be more than one correct answer for each problem.
• Do not be discouraged if you propose an answer that does not match the answer in the back of the book.
• It is possible that your answer is also correct.

• Most of the reactions you need to know were covered.
• The goal of this chapter was not to cover everything.
• We wanted to lay a foundation for you when you read your textbook and lecture notes.
• We saw that there were similarities between mechanisms and that there was a simple way of categorizing them.

• You can look through your textbook and lecture notes for the reactions that we didn't cover in this chapter.

• With the foundation we have built in this chapter, you should be in good shape to fill in the gaps and study more efficiently.

• Make sure to do all of the problems in your textbook.
• There are more synthesis problems there.
• The more you practice, the better.