Chemistry of the Functional Groups

We now examine some organic functional groups, groups that are responsible for most of the reactions of the parent compounds. In particular, we focus on oxygen-containing and nitrogen-containing compounds. 

This process gives off energy, which microotganisms, in turn, use for growth and other functions. 

Common alcohols. Note that all the compounds contain the OH group. The properties of phenol are quite different from those of the aliphatic alcohols. 

Commercially, ethanol is prepared by an addition reaction in which water is combined with ethylene at about 280°C and 300 atm  

Ethanol has countless applications as a solvent for organic chemicals and as a starting compound for the manufacture of dyes, synthetic dmgs, cosmetics, and explosives. It is also a constituent of alcoholic beverages. Ethanol is the oidy nontoxic (more properly, the least toxic) of the straight-chain alcohols our bodies produce an enzyme, called alcohol dehydrogenase, which helps metabolize ethanol by oxidizing it to acetaldehyde  

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The use of highly fluorinated side-chain groups that are insulated from reaction centers in order to exploit their unique influence upon the solubility properties of the molecule without affecting the chemistry of the functional groups has spawned a new subfield of fluorine chemistry... 

M. Charton, in The Chemistry of the Functional Groups. Supplement A The Chemistry of Double Bonded Functional Groups, Vol. 2, Part 1. (Ed. S. Patai), Wiley, New York, 1989, pp. 239-298. 

PataiS (ed) (1972) Chemistry of the azido group. The chemistry of the functional groups. Interscience, New York... 

This topic has been reviewed in The Chemistry of the Functional Groups series published in 19821. It is not the purpose of this chapter to provide a complete literature review. Rather, this chapter will discuss some of the new methods of measuring and interpreting kinetic isotope effects that have been used to determine the mechanisms of the reactions of amines and amine derivatives. 

The material reviewed in the present volume Supplement F2 The chemistry of amino, nitroso, nitro and related groups has been previously covered in the following books in the Chemistry of the Functional Groups series ... 

Hall LH, Kier LB (1992) In Patei S, Rappoport Z (eds) Chemistry of the functional groups, vol 22. Wiley, Chichester, England, chap 5, p 186... 

Patai, S., Ed., In The Chemistry of the Functional Groups. Supplement E. The Chemistry of Ethers, Crown Ethers, Hydroxyl Groups, and their Sulphur Analogues, Part 1 Wiley Chichester, 1980. 

In six-membered rings containing three or more heteroatoms, any substituent must necessarily be close to, or on, a heteroatom. In this respect the reactivity of substituents in these systems is controlled by the adjacent heteroatoms. For example, halogens on carbon atoms or to a heteroatom are readily displaced. For the most part, the reactivity of substituents is fairly easy to predict on the basis of the chemistry of the functional groups of which they are part, and of the generalizations outlined in Chapter 2.02. 

P. Muller, in The Chemistry of the Functional Groups Ethers, Grown Ethers and Hydroxyl Groups , ed. S. Patai, Wiley, Chichester, 1980, Vol. 1, p. 469. 

The use of halides as nucleophilic reagents is mostly covered by the chemistry of organometallic reagents that are readily formed from halides. This subject is covered by several volumes in the Chemistry of the Functional Groups series405"408 and elsewhere409"41. Thus this area of synthesis is not covered in the present work and the reader is directed to these sources for details. 

The present volume, Supplement D2 retains the title of its direct predecessor, Supplement D The chemistry of halides, pseudo-halides and azides, even though it deals only with derivatives of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine. Hence, in order to keep the Chemistry of the functional groups series complete and up-to-date, it will be necessary to publish, in the not too distant future, an additional supplementary volume ( D3 ) discussing the recent advances in the chemistry of azides, cyanates, isocyanates and their thio derivatives. 

The chemistry of the functional groups is considered here mith a methiuuslic tauor.aU Students ore encouraged to consider the reactivity of functional groups in terms of their regions of electron deficiency and excess and hence to identify the sites at vihkh nucleophiles and electrophiles might react... 

I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate my good friend Prof. Zvi Rappoport on the occasion of his joining me as co-editor of The Chemistry of the Functional Groups series. 

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