Organic chemistry

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Sample objectives

What this unit covers

• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Recall the first four members of the alkanes as methane, ethane, propane and butane.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Represent alkane molecules in displayed, structural and molecular formula forms.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Explain how fractional distillation works in terms of evaporation and condensation.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Explain that fractions can be processed to produce fuels and feedstock for the petrochemical industry.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Recall how viscosity changes with increasing molecular size.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Explain that carbon and hydrogen in hydrocarbon fuels are oxidised during combustion.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Explain that hydrocarbons can be cracked to produce smaller, more useful molecules.
• Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock: Describe catalytic cracking and steam cracking as methods of cracking.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Describe alkenes as hydrocarbons with a double carbon-carbon bond.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Recognise alkenes from their names or from given formulae.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Explain that alkenes tend to burn in air with smoky flames because of incomplete combustion.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Explain that alkenes react with hydrogen, water and halogens by addition across the carbon-carbon double bond.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Represent alcohols in displayed, structural and molecular formula forms.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Describe what happens when any of the first four alcohols burn in air.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Explain why carboxylic acids are weak acids in terms of ionisation and pH. (HT only)
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Describe carboxylic acids as compounds that contain the functional group –COOH.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): In addition polymers, the repeating unit has the same atoms as the monomer because no other molecule is formed in the reaction.
• Reactions of alkenes and alcohols (chemistry only): Glycine polymerises to produce a polypeptide. (HT only)