Oxidative additionOxidative addition and reductive elimination are two important and related classes of reactions in organometallic chemistry. Oxidative addition is a process that increases both the oxidation state and coordination number of a metal centre. Oxidative addition is often a step in catalytic cycles, in conjunction with its reverse reaction, reductive elimination. For transition metals, oxidative reaction results in the decrease in the dn to a configuration with fewer electrons, often 2e fewer.
Leaving groupIn chemistry, a leaving group is defined by the IUPAC as an atom or group of atoms that detaches from the main or residual part of a substrate during a reaction or elementary step of a reaction. However, in common usage, the term is often limited to a fragment that departs with a pair of electrons in heterolytic bond cleavage. In this usage, a leaving group is a less formal but more commonly used synonym of the term nucleofuge.
Chemical structureA chemical structure of a molecule is a spatial arrangement of its atoms and their chemical bonds. Its determination includes a chemist's specifying the molecular geometry and, when feasible and necessary, the electronic structure of the target molecule or other solid. Molecular geometry refers to the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule and the chemical bonds that hold the atoms together and can be represented using structural formulae and by molecular models; complete electronic structure descriptions include specifying the occupation of a molecule's molecular orbitals.
Chemical reactionA chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the positions of electrons in the forming and breaking of chemical bonds between atoms, with no change to the nuclei (no change to the elements present), and can often be described by a chemical equation. Nuclear chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that involves the chemical reactions of unstable and radioactive elements where both electronic and nuclear changes can occur.
Vinyl groupIn organic chemistry, a vinyl group (abbr. Vi; IUPAC name: ethenyl group) is a functional group with the formula . It is the ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) molecule () with one fewer hydrogen atom. The name is also used for any compound containing that group, namely where R is any other group of atoms. An industrially important example is vinyl chloride, precursor to PVC, a plastic commonly known as vinyl. Vinyl is one of the alkenyl functional groups. On a carbon skeleton, sp2-hybridized carbons or positions are often called vinylic.
Cracking (chemistry)In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of carbon-carbon bonds in the precursors. The rate of cracking and the end products are strongly dependent on the temperature and presence of catalysts. Cracking is the breakdown of a large hydrocarbons into smaller, more useful alkanes and alkenes.
Functional groupIn organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the rest of the molecule's composition. This enables systematic prediction of chemical reactions and behavior of chemical compounds and the design of chemical synthesis. The reactivity of a functional group can be modified by other functional groups nearby.
Selective catalytic reductionSelective catalytic reduction (SCR) means of converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as NOxNOx with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (N2), and water (H2O). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (NH3), aqueous ammonia (NH4OH), or a urea (CO(NH2)2) solution, is added to a stream of flue or exhaust gas and is reacted onto a catalyst. As the reaction drives toward completion, nitrogen (N2), and carbon dioxide (CO2), in the case of urea use, are produced.
Organoboron chemistryOrganoboron chemistry or organoborane chemistry is the chemistry of organoboron compounds or organoboranes, which are chemical compounds of boron and carbon that are organic derivatives of borane (BH3), for example trialkyl boranes. . Organoboron compounds are important reagents in organic chemistry enabling many chemical transformations, the most important ones being hydroboration and carboboration. Reactions of organoborates and boranes involve the transfer of a nucleophilic group attached to boron to an electrophilic center either inter- or intramolecularly.
Elimination reactionAn elimination reaction is a type of organic reaction in which two substituents are removed from a molecule in either a one- or two-step mechanism. The one-step mechanism is known as the E2 reaction, and the two-step mechanism is known as the E1 reaction. The numbers refer not to the number of steps in the mechanism, but rather to the kinetics of the reaction: E2 is bimolecular (second-order) while E1 is unimolecular (first-order). In cases where the molecule is able to stabilize an anion but possesses a poor leaving group, a third type of reaction, E1CB, exists.