Unanswered Questions
2,432 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Do Cyclohexane-1,3-diones Give Positive Haloform Reactions?
Recently a post appeared on ChemSE asking why cyclohexane-1,3-dione (dihydroresorcinol) 1a doesn’t give a positive iodoform test. Unfortunately, the post was subsequently taken down after several ...
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Tetrahedrane Properties and Analogs
I took a look into some tetrahedrane ($\ce{C4H4}$) analogs, platonic hydrocarbon, basically very strained tetrahedral geometry at every carbon. I was wondering what will be the predicted delta H of ...
13
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What explains the color in clear sigma versus green pi complexes formed by methylbenzene?
Peter Sykes mentions in Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry (6th ed.) on p.132 that there would significant differences in physical properties of the resultant mixture when we:
React ...
13
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Why do alpha-hydroxy ketones respond positively to Tollens', Fehling's, Benedict's, Schiff's and HgCl2 tests?
I learnt from a certain textbook that aldehydes and formic acid respond positively to Tollens', Fehling's, Benedict's, Schiff's and HgCl2 tests.
However, in another textbook I read that even alpha-...
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Rationalising diastereoselectivity of hydroboration using stereoelectronics
Using bulky reagents such as 9-BBN, hydroboration is often highly diastereoselective, giving rise to the 1,2-anti diastereomer:
This is easily explained using a steric argument, with the major ...
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Role of pH in azo C-coupling reaction, continued
In the question, "What is the role of pH in azo coupling reaction of diazonium with phenol and aniline?" asked by @DhrubaBanerjee and answered by @Klaus-DieterWarzecha, I find several ends ...
11
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Color of methoxy substituted phenyl rings when heated in the presence of acid
Anyone who's familiar with organic synthesis will probably have came across the DMB and PMB protecting groups.
When TLC-ing compounds containing these protecting groups using common stains like ...
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Frontier orbital analysis of zinc-catalysed carbonyl-ene reaction
Q1. Is the $\sigma_\ce{C-H}$ bond a donor in this reaction? If not, then can we take the alternate combination (HOMO of alkene, LUMO of the $\ce{C-H}$ bond and, HOMO of the carbonyl)?
Q2. We can also ...
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Does the alpha effect apply to third row elements?
Alkylperoxy anions are stronger nucleophiles than alkoxides (the so-called alpha effect), but would an alkyldisulfide anion be a better nucleophile than an alkylthiolate anion?
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Which potentials are suitable for molecular dynamics simulation of simple explicit solvents?
Which potentials (force fields) are suitable for adequately simulating (mixtures of) explicit solvents? Interesting rheological properties include viscosity, surface tension, heat capacity.
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Why does 1,4-diiodobenzene have a non-zero dipole moment?
From this answer, I came to know that 1,4-diiodobenzene has a dipole moment of $0.19~\rm D$ in benzene at $20\ ^\circ\rm C$. On the basis of symmetry, I'd expect the bond moments due to the difference ...
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Is there a reliable chemical theory that predicts pKa based on structure?
Obviously, there are general stability arguments that can be made to estimate relative pKas, such as evaluating the stability of the conjugate base of an acid, or thinking about how polarized the bond ...
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Can I make a mirror on PET plastic using Tollen's reaction?
I want to make a very shiny surface, like a mirror. I tried to use chrome paint but it's barely shiny. It's more like gray even though I bought one of the most expensive chrome looking paint.
I know ...
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The Action of Nitrogen Iodide on Methyl Ketones
I recently encountered two old publications on action of nitrogen iodide on various compounds (Ref.1 and Ref.2). Between them, Ref.1 described the iodoform formation by methyl ketones upon treatment ...
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Cobalt Chloride in various solvent/water mixtures - tested
In a recent post the solvatochromic behaviour of cobalt chloride in acetone was discussed. There were some ideas how the acetone might influence the ratio between the blue $\ce{[CoCl4]^2-}$ and the ...