HL only

Syed Arshad Mushtaq

Chemistry Teacher
Australian School of Abu Dhabi
Learning outcomes
 Understand:
 Synthesising organic compounds stems from readily
available starting material via a series of separate steps.
The basis of synthetic routes involves functional group
interconversions.
 Synthetic design often involves retro-synthesis of
organic compound
 Apply knowledge to:
 Deduce multi-step synthetic routes given starting
reagents and the product(s)
Clarification notes
 Only conversions involving four or less discrete steps
will be assessed in synthetic routes.
 Any of the reaction types covered in Topic 10 and sub-
topic 20.1 can be used.
 When given the starting substance and the product,
you should be able to predict a reaction route.
 This may be a series of steps.
 You will be expected to know up to four steps to
reach a product.
 You must also give conditions for each stage if
known.
Possible conversions
Useful list of the reactions
Let’s try some conversion
Example
 Convert Ethane to ethanoic acid in four steps
UNDERSTANDING/KEY IDEA 20.2.B
Retro-synthesis of organic
compounds.
Retro-synthesis
 Retro-synthesis simply means working backwards from
the desired product to the starting material.
 The desired product is the “target molecule”.
 This “target molecule” is the starting point for our
thinking.
 It is systematically broken down into precursors which
get us to the starting material.
Example 1
 Explain how propyl propanoate can be synthesized
from a single carboxylic acid. Give equations and
conditions for all reactions, and state the type of
reaction occurring at the functional group at each step.
Example 2
 You are required to make butanone starting from any
alkene of your choice. Show the steps involved in
retro-synthesis to determine the identity of the alkene.