DariushS

Interesting, so basically all aldehydes and acetyls are ketones and naming the compound as a ketone or an aldehyde/acetyl would be correct?

The problem asks what is wrong with the name 3-ethyl-4,4,-dimethylhexane. Is ethyl supposed to be on carbon 4 and the two methyls on carbon 3? McMurry's text if there is a branch point occuring equidistant from both ends, begin counting from the end nearer the second branch point. In this case, both ends are still the same distance from the second branch point. Do I begin counting from the end closer to the higher branched carbon, the carbon with two methyls attached to it?

I see. So do I prioritize it as if it were a ketone? What if the compound was CH3CHO, would that be a acetyl or an aldehyde?

Let's say we have a pentane with an oxygen double bonded to carbon 2. Is that an acetyl functional group or a ketone? My organic chemistry book by McMurry doesn't list acetyl in the table of functional groups which orders them in the priority they have in the name. How do I prioritize an acetyl functional group when naming a compound?

When is it correct to draw a lone pair of electrons on a carbon atom in a molecule when drawing resonance structures? Is it correct as long as the carbon atom fits the X=Y-Z* model? The "X" atom and "Y" atom are double bonded and the * denotes the "Z" atom, which is single bonded to the "Y" atom, has either an empty orbital, orbital with one electron, or a lone pair. In carbon's case I believe it would usually be an empty orbital.

I'm re-reading my organic chemistry book to prepare for a lab class, and I've taken a quantum chemistry class. I don't remember too much from quantum chemistry. In a general chemistry sense, is there a way to determine a number of bonds an atom can make just by looking at its position from the periodic table? For example, without quantum chemistry knowledge, how should I know that phosphorous can make 5 bonds? Is it just something to be memorized until quantum chemistry?

When Phosphorus (P) is bonded to three elements, and double bonded to one, how is P sp^3 hybridized? sp^3 hybridization only offers 4 orbitals, yet there are 5 bonds. McMurry's Organic Chemistry textbook says the bond angles are similar to a tetrahedral configuration, and that is why P is sp^3 hybridized in that situation. I understand P is capable of forming a different number of bonds depending on what molecule it is a part of. How can I determine the hybridization of P in a molecule?

Zinc's ground state electron configuration, with all numbers in parenthesis as exponents, is 1s(2)2s(2)2p(6)3s(2)3p(6)4s(2)3d(10). This question confuses me because 4 is a bigger number than 3, however part of the third shell is higher in energy than part of the fourth shell. Is the valence shell the third or fourth shell? If the third shell is the valence shell, are all the third shell electrons considered valence or only the 10 in the d orbitals? To gain the nearest noble gas configuration will Zinc gain 6 electrons in the fourth shell p orbitals, or will it lose the 2 electrons in the fourth shell s orbital? Thanks in advance.