You have to learn a lot of organic reactions for AQA A-level Chemistry. Some of them you need to know the mechanism for, some of them you don’t.
In this post, I’ll give you a list of the reactions you need to know. For the ones marked with a * you need to know the mechanism.
To help you learn these reactions, I’ve put together a FREE package, which includes this list, a guide to my framework for learning the organic reactions, and a worksheet to help you organise your notes. Click here to sign up, or keep scrolling to see the list of reactions
The organic reactions for AQA A-level Chemistry
Year 1 reactions for AQA A-level Chemistry
Alkanes
- Catalytic cracking
- Thermal cracking
- Radical substitution*
Halogenoalkanes
- Nucleophilic substitution with hydroxide*
- Nucleophilic substitution with cyanide*
- Nucleophilic substitution with XS ammonia*
- Elimination*
Alkenes
- Electrophilic addition*
- Hydrogenation
- Hydrogenation
- Electrophilic addition with conc H2SO4*
- Addition polymerisation
Alcohols
- Oxidation of primary alcohols to both carboxylic acids and aldehydes
- Oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes
- Oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones
- Elimination*
- Production of ethanol by glucose fermentation
Year 2 reactions for AQA A-level Chemistry
Aldehydes and ketones
- Reduction of aldehydes to primary alcohols (nucleophilic addition)*
- Reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols (nucleophilic addition)*
- Nucleophilic addition of aldehydes and ketones with cyanide*
Carboxylic acids
- Usual reactions of acids (see lesson in A-level Chemistry basic skills course)
- Esterification
- Formation of triglycerides
- Formation of biodiesel
Esters
- Acid hydrolysis
- Base hydrolysis
Acyl chlorides
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with water*
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with alcohols*
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with ammonia*
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with primary amines*
Acid anhydrides
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with water
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with alcohols
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with ammonia
- Nucleophilic addition-elimination with primary amines
Benzene
- Nitration of benzene (electrophilic substitution)*
- Friedel-Crafts acylation (electrophilic substitution)*
Amines
- Amines as bases
- Amines as nucleophiles (nucleophilic substitution with halogenoalkanes)
- Reduction of nitriles to primary amines
- Reduction of nitrobenzene to phenylamines
More help with the organic reactions for AQA A-level Chemistry
Learning the organic reactions is much easier when you have a solid understanding of organic chemistry. My FREE introduction to organic chemistry workbook will help you learn the basics, including nomenclature, formulae and isomerism. Get your copy here.