paper 2 organic chemistry

• alcohols functional group:

  -OH
• how are carboxylic acids formed?

  alcohols are oxidised by burning
• catalyst / oxidising agent:

  potassium dichromate
• symbol equation for oxidisation of ethanol:

  C2H5OH + 3o2 -> 2CO2 + 3H2O
• equation for oxidisation of alcohols:

  alcohol + oxygen -> carbon dioxide + water
• how is ethanol produced?

  1. ethene is produced from crude oil
  2. ethene will react with steam to make ethanol
  3. this is an addition reaction because water is added to the molecule
  4. the reaction needs a temperature of 300C and very high pressure
  5. phosphoric acid is used as a catalyst
• negative of producing ethanol by fermentation:

  it isn’t very concentrated, so it needs to be distilled and purified
• fermentation:


  producing ethanol through yeast that anaerobically respires and breaks down sugar with enzymes
• carboxylic acids functional group:

  -COOH
• equation for reaction of carboxylic acids and metal:

  carboxylic acid + metal -> salt + hydrogen
• equation for reaction of carboxylic acid and metal carbonate:

  carboxylic acid + metal carbonate -> salt + water + carbon dioxide
• esters functional group:

  -COO-
• esters are formed from an alcohol and carboxylic acid (and catalyst)
• naming esters:

  alcohol (-yl) + carboxylic acid (-oate)
• equation for forming esters:

  carboxylic acid + alcohol -> ester + water
• properties of esters:

  • volatile
  • strong, sweet smells
  • flammable
• polymer: a substance made from very large molecules made up of many repeating units. high average relative molecular mass
• addition polymerisation:

  when lots of unsaturated monomers open up their double bonds and join together to form polymer chains
• why are addition polymers non-biodegradeable?

  they are inert because the carbon bonds are hard to break
• burning polymers releases toxic gases (methane, carbon dioxide, water)
• equation for condensation polymerisation:

  dicarboxylic acid + diol -> polyester + water
• condensation polymerisation requires two different types of monomer. for each new bond that forms a small molecule (water) is formed