Cliffs AP Chemistry, 3rd Edition

Organic Chemistry

Note to the student:You will find very littleorganic chemistry in either Section I or Section II
of the AP chemistry exam. According to the Educational Testing Service, “Physical and chemi-
cal properties of simple organic compounds should be included as exemplary material for the
study of other areas such as bonding, equilibria involving weak acids, kinetics, colligative
properties, and stoichiometric determinations of empirical and molecular formulas. (Reactions
specific to organic chemistry are NOT tested.)”

What this means is that you will notbe tested on advanced organic chemistry concepts such as
organic synthesis, nucleophilic substitutions, electrophilic additions, or molecular rearrange-
ments. Rather, if you were given an acid-dissociation constant (Ka) problem, the AP chemistry
exam might include an organic acid such as acetic acid (HC 2 H 3 O 2 ) instead of an inorganic acid
such as boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ). However, the mechanisms of the problem would remain
unchanged.

In a thermochemistry problem, you might be given the equation

C 2 H 4 (g) + H 2 (g) →C 2 H 6 (g) ∆H°= −137 kJ

to work with, but the mechanics of the operations are the same regardless of whether you work
with inorganic or organic species.

Every once in a while you may run into an organic chemistry problem in Section II, on writing
equations. An example is “Write an equation that describes burning methanol in air.” You
would need to know the chemical formula and structural formula of methanol in order to do
this problem. Writing organic reactions is covered in more detail in the chapter entitled
“Writing and Predicting Chemical Reactions.”

In short, then, in the area of organic chemistry you should know

• simple nomenclature


• functional groups


• various types of reactions (addition, substitution, elimination, condensation, and
  polymerization)


• how to draw various types of isomers: geometric, positional, functional, structural, stereo,
  and optical.