Q109: What is the Major Product?
May 01, 2025
Predict the major product of the reaction above.
Product A
Product B
Product C
Answer
ā Product A: How many carbons are supposed to be in the final product?
ā Product B: Since we have heat, we’ll favor the aldol condensation instead of the normal addition!
ā Product C: View Explanation below!
In this reaction, we’re set up for an aldol condensation!
We know this because heat is one of our reaction conditions, and we have an alpha proton we can deprotonate to form an enolate nucleophile.
The alpha carbon will attack the carbonyl carbon, and after the attack, we’ll go through the E1Cb mechanism to kick out the alcohol and form a conjugated double bond.
And don’t forget, always count your carbons!
If you want more practice problems, I post a new one every weekday on the Catalyst Chemistry Instagram story!
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