Organic Chemistry I (CHEM 201) Carbonyl Chemistry, Aldol Reactions, and Exam Review
University of Florida
Organic Chemistry I (CHEM 201) | Exam Review

Overview
A high-intent exam review on carbonyl reactivity and aldol chemistry, with pattern recognition students need for mechanism-heavy finals.

Key topics
•carbonyl electrophilicity and resonance
•enolate formation and regioselectivity
•aldol addition vs condensation conditions
•intramolecular aldol patterns
•common reagent and product cues

Suggested study tasks
•practice drawing 8 enolates and identifying alpha positions
•predict products for 10 aldol prompts (addition vs condensation)
•write 6 mechanism ???checkpoints??? for curved-arrow accuracy
•classify base/acid conditions for 12 reagent sets
•build a one-page carbonyl reactivity ranking

Common pitfalls
•forming enolates at the wrong alpha carbon
•forgetting dehydration conditions for condensation
•mixing up aldol with Claisen logic
•ignoring intramolecular ring size preferences
•missing stereochemistry notes when asked