chemical synthesis homework

Simplifying Organic Chemistry

Orgosolver provides study tools to help students with their organic chemistry homework and preparation for quizzes, exams, or even the MCAT. Our tools, quizzes, and study guides are designed to help students test every reaction or mechanism with any molecule they draw!

Need help studying for your next exam?

Check out our study guides and our dynamic reaction quizzes, 📋 orgo 1 final exam study guide, 📋 orgo 2 final exam study guide, 📋 reaction quizzes, who we are..

Two former organic chemistry students from the University of Maryland.

While taking Organic Chemistry back in 2009, we often discussed the lack of readily available resources on the web for this course. With the challenges presented by 2020 and the pandemic, we found ourselves again thinking about the ideas that we had discussed in our undergraduate days. Putting our professional skills together, we developed OrgoSolver; the first dynamic Organic Chemistry reaction solver.

Testimonials

Stockton university.

"It helped me with the mechanisms I needed. It allowed me to visualize what reactions I was working with!"

San Francisco State University

"The reaction solver is a great help for both learning reactions and solving retrosynthesis problems."

UC Berkeley

"Orgosolver helped me when nothing else could!"

Questions, Comments, Feedback? Email us at [email protected]

The following problems are meant to be useful study tools for students involved in most undergraduate organic chemistry courses.  The problems have been color-coded to indicate whether they are:

1.   Generally useful , 2.   Most likely to be useful to students in year long, rather than survey courses , 3.   Most likely to be useful only to students in courses for chemistry majors and/or honors students .

Some of these problems make use of a Molecular Editor drawing application.  To practice using this editor Click Here .

Most of these Interactive Organic Chemistry Practice Problems have been developed by Professor William Reusch. �1999 William Reusch, All rights reserved. Comments, questions and errors should be sent to [email protected] . The Virtual Text and some of the problems make use of either the CHIME plugin , or Jmol . Click on the name for information and a free copy. If possible, monitor resolutions of 1024 x 768 or 1152 x 870 should be used.

Department of Chemistry Michigan State University East Lansing, MI  48824

• Science Notes Posts
• Contact Science Notes
• Todd Helmenstine Biography
• Anne Helmenstine Biography
• Free Printable Periodic Tables (PDF and PNG)
• Periodic Table Wallpapers
• Interactive Periodic Table
• Periodic Table Posters
• How to Grow Crystals
• Chemistry Projects
• Fire and Flames Projects
• Holiday Science
• Chemistry Problems With Answers
• Physics Problems
• Unit Conversion Example Problems
• Chemistry Worksheets
• Biology Worksheets
• Periodic Table Worksheets
• Physical Science Worksheets
• Science Lab Worksheets
• My Amazon Books

What Is a Synthesis Reaction? Definition and Examples

A synthesis reaction is one of the four main types of chemical reactions , along with decomposition, single replacement , and double replacement reactions. Here is the synthesis reaction definition, examples of the reaction using elements and compounds, a look at how many reactants are involved, and how to recognize a synthesis reaction.

Synthesis Reaction Definition

A synthesis reaction is a chemical reaction that combines two or more simple elements or compounds to form a more complex product . A + B → AB This type of reaction is also called a direct combination reaction or simply a combination reaction. It’s the type of reaction that forms compounds from their elements. Synthesis reactions also make large molecules from smaller ones. A synthesis reaction is the opposite of a decomposition reaction , which breaks complex molecules into simpler ones.

Synthesis Reaction Examples

There are many examples of synthesis reactions. Some involve elements. In others, an element reacts with a compound. In still other cases, compounds react with other compounds to form larger molecules.

Synthesis Reactions Between Elements

• Iron and sulfur react to form iron sulfide. 8 Fe + S 8  → 8 FeS
• Potassium and chlorine react to form potassium chloride. 2K (s)  + Cl 2(g)  → 2KCl (s)
• Iron and oxygen react to form rust. 4 Fe (s) + 3 O 2  (g) → 2 Fe 2 O 3  (s)
• Hydrogen reacts with oxygen to form water. 2 H 2 (g) + O 2 (g) → 2 H 2 O(g)

Synthesis Reactions Between an Element and a Compound

• Carbon monoxide reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. 2 CO(g) + O 2 (g) → 2CO 2 (g)
• Nitric oxide reacts with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxide. 2NO + O 2  → 2NO 2
• CH 2 CH 2 (g) + Br 2 (ℓ) → CH 2 BrCH 2 Br

Synthesis Reactions Between Compounds

• Sulfur oxide reacts with water to form sulfuric acid. SO 3  (g) + H 2 O (l) → H 2 SO 4  (aq)
• Calcium oxide reacts with water to form calcium hydroxide. 2CaO (s) + 2H 2 O (l) → 2Ca(OH) 2 (aq)
• Iron oxide and sulfur oxide react to form iron sulfate. Fe 2 O 3  + 3SO 3  → Fe 2 (SO 4 ) 3

How Many Reactants Are There?

Usually, there are two reactants in a synthesis reaction. They could be two elements, an element and a compound, or two compounds. However, sometimes more reactants combine to form a product. Here are examples of synthesis reactions involving three reactants:

• Sodium carbonate reacts with water and carbon dioxide to form sodium bicarbonate. Na 2 CO 3  + H 2 O + CO 2 → 2NaHCO 3
• Nitrogen reacts with water and oxygen to form ammonium nitrate. 2N 2 (g) + 4H 2 O(g) + O 2 (g) → 2NH 4 NO 3 (s)

How to Recognize a Synthesis Reaction

The easiest way to recognize a synthesis reaction is to look for a reaction where multiple reactants produce a single product. However, sometimes a synthesis reaction equation includes multiple products and reactants. A good example is the overall reaction for photosynthesis, in which carbon dioxide and water combine to form glucose and oxygen. CO 2  + H 2 O → C 6 H 12 O 6  + O 2 But, even in this case, two simpler molecules react to form a more complex one. So, this is the key in synthesis reaction identification.

Some synthesis reactions form predictable products. If you recognize them, it’s easy to recognize the reaction type:

• Reacting two elements forms a binary compound. For example, hydrogen and oxygen react to form water.
• When two nonmetals react, more than one product is possible. For example, sulfur and oxygen react to form sulfur dioxide or sulfur trioxide.
• Alkali metals react with nonmetals to form ionic compounds. For example, sodium and chlorine form sodium chloride.
• Transition metals react with nonmetals to form more than one possible product. To predict the product, you need to know the oxidation state (charge) or the metallic cation.
• Nonmetal oxides react with water to form acids. For example sulfur dioxide reacts with water to make sulfurous acid.
• Metallic oxides react with water to form bases.
• Nonmetal oxides react with one another to form salts.

Related Posts

• ACS Publications

OR SEARCH CITATIONS

You have not visited any articles yet, Please visit some articles to see contents here.

• publications
• Recently Viewed
• Access Options
• Authors & Reviewers
• ACS Members
• Curated Content
• RSS & Mobile
• Products & Services
• Manage My Account
• Website Demos & Tutorials
• Support FAQs
• Live Chat with Agent
• For Advertisers
• For Librarians & Account Managers
• Pair a device
• My Profile Login Logout Pair a device
• ACS & Open Access

CONTENT TYPES

Synthesis Explorer: A Chemical Reaction Tutorial System for Organic Synthesis Design and Mechanism Prediction

• Jonathan H. Chen
•  and 
• Pierre Baldi

Publication History

• Received 3 August 2009
• Published online 1 December 2008
• Published in issue 1 December 2008

Article Views

Article Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.

Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.

The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.

• Add Full Text with Reference
• Add Description
• Citation and abstract
• Citation and references
• More Options
• Chemical reactions ,
• Organic chemistry ,
• Organic synthesis ,
• Undergraduates

Synthesis Explorer is an interactive tutorial system for organic chemistry that enables students to learn chemical reactions in ways previously unrealized. Accessible online through a user-friendly Web interface, Synthesis Explorer delivers a rich learning experience including dynamic generation of customized multi-step synthesis design and mechanism prediction problems; context-specific feedback; and support for inquiry-based learning through experimentation and interactive dialogue with the system. The system is founded upon a reaction expert system based on over 80 reagent models and 1500 manually-composed reaction patterns, representing the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum. These reaction models confer the system inherent predictive powers enabling it to generate a virtually limitless number of problems and to answer common questions of reactivity, including the inference of complete arrow-pushing mechanisms. Pedagogical experiments in undergraduate classes at UC Irvine indicate that the system can improve average student examination performance by ~10%.

• Second-Year Undergraduate
• Chemical Education Research
• Computer-Based Learning
• Mechanisms of Reactions

Read this article

To access this article, please review the available access options below.

Get instant access

Purchase Access

Read this article for 48 hours. Check out below using your ACS ID or as a guest.

Recommended

Access through Your Institution

You may have access to this article through your institution.

Your institution does not have access to this content. You can change your affiliated institution below.

Log in to Access

You may have access to this article with your ACS ID if you have previously purchased it or have ACS member benefits. Log in below.

This article is cited by 26 publications.

• Mohammadamin Tavakoli, Ryan J. Miller, Mirana Claire Angel, Michael A. Pfeiffer, Eugene S. Gutman, Aaron D. Mood, David Van Vranken, Pierre Baldi . PMechDB: A Public Database of Elementary Polar Reaction Steps. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2024 , 64 (6) , 1975-1983. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01810
• Christine M. Le, Barbora Morra . Using Retrosynthetic Graphic Organizers and Molecule of the Week Activities in Organic Chemistry Tutorials. Journal of Chemical Education 2019 , 96 (8) , 1640-1645. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00970
• Gregor N. Simm and Markus Reiher . Context-Driven Exploration of Complex Chemical Reaction Networks. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 2017 , 13 (12) , 6108-6119. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.7b00945
• Bowen Liu , Bharath Ramsundar , Prasad Kawthekar , Jade Shi , Joseph Gomes , Quang Luu Nguyen , Stephen Ho , Jack Sloane , Paul Wender , and Vijay Pande . Retrosynthetic Reaction Prediction Using Neural Sequence-to-Sequence Models. ACS Central Science 2017 , 3 (10) , 1103-1113. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.7b00303
• Peter Sadowski , David Fooshee , Niranjan Subrahmanya , and Pierre Baldi . Synergies Between Quantum Mechanics and Machine Learning in Reaction Prediction. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2016 , 56 (11) , 2125-2128. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.6b00351
• Danielle M. Zurcher , Sameer Phadke , Brian P. Coppola , and Anne J. McNeil . Using Student-Generated Instructional Materials in an e-Homework Platform. Journal of Chemical Education 2016 , 93 (11) , 1871-1878. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00384
• Jennifer N. Wei , David Duvenaud , and Alán Aspuru-Guzik . Neural Networks for the Prediction of Organic Chemistry Reactions. ACS Central Science 2016 , 2 (10) , 725-732. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6b00219
• Steven C. Farmer and Molly K. Schuman . A Simple Card Game To Teach Synthesis in Organic Chemistry Courses. Journal of Chemical Education 2016 , 93 (4) , 695-698. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00646
• Maike Bergeler , Gregor N. Simm , Jonny Proppe , and Markus Reiher . Heuristics-Guided Exploration of Reaction Mechanisms. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 2015 , 11 (12) , 5712-5722. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.5b00866
• Michelle Richards-Babb , Reagan Curtis , Zornitsa Georgieva , and John H. Penn . Student Perceptions of Online Homework Use for Formative Assessment of Learning in Organic Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education 2015 , 92 (11) , 1813-1819. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00294
• Chris P. Schaller , Kate J. Graham , and T. Nicholas Jones . Synthesis Road Map Problems in Organic Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education 2014 , 91 (12) , 2142-2145. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed400886k
• Laurie L. Parker and G. Marc Loudon . Case Study Using Online Homework in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry: Results and Student Attitudes. Journal of Chemical Education 2013 , 90 (1) , 37-44. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed300270t
• Matthew A. Kayala and Pierre Baldi . ReactionPredictor: Prediction of Complex Chemical Reactions at the Mechanistic Level Using Machine Learning. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2012 , 52 (10) , 2526-2540. https://doi.org/10.1021/ci3003039
• Alison B. Flynn . Development of an Online, Postclass Question Method and Its Integration with Teaching Strategies. Journal of Chemical Education 2012 , 89 (4) , 456-464. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed101132q
• Alison B. Flynn . Developing Problem-Solving Skills through Retrosynthetic Analysis and Clickers in Organic Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education 2011 , 88 (11) , 1496-1500. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed200143k
• Matthew A. Kayala , Chloé-Agathe Azencott , Jonathan H. Chen , and Pierre Baldi . Learning to Predict Chemical Reactions. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2011 , 51 (9) , 2209-2222. https://doi.org/10.1021/ci200207y
• Jonathan H. Chen Matthew A. Kayala Pierre Baldi . Reaction Explorer:Towards a Knowledge Map of Organic Chemistry To Support Dynamic Assessment and Personalized Instruction. 2010 , 191-209. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2010-1060.ch011
• Jonathan H. Chen and Pierre Baldi . No Electron Left Behind: A Rule-Based Expert System To Predict Chemical Reactions and Reaction Mechanisms. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2009 , 49 (9) , 2034-2043. https://doi.org/10.1021/ci900157k
• Dian-Zhao Lin , Guichun Fang , Kuangbiao Liao . Synthesize in a Smart Way: A Brief Introduction to Intelligence and Automation in Organic Synthesis. 2023 , 227-275. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37196-7_8
• Gerhard Hessler , Karl-Heinz Baringhaus . Artificial Intelligence in Drug Design. Molecules 2018 , 23 (10) , 2520. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102520
• Yeonjoon Kim , Jin Woo Kim , Zeehyo Kim , Woo Youn Kim . Efficient prediction of reaction paths through molecular graph and reaction network analysis. Chemical Science 2018 , 9 (4) , 825-835. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7SC03628K
• Ara C. Austin , Hagit Ben-Daat , Mary Zhu , Robert Atkinson , Nathan Barrows , Ian R. Gould . Measuring student performance in general organic chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice 2015 , 16 (1) , 168-178. https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RP00208C
• Othman Talib , Mokhtar Nawawi , Wan Zah Wan Ali , Rosnaini Mahmud , Tengku Putri Norishah Tengku Shariman . Implementing the SEA application for organic chemistry: Arrow-pushing versus electron-moving techniques. 2014 , 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITHET.2014.7155719
• Wendy A. Warr . A Short Review of Chemical Reaction Database Systems, Computer‐Aided Synthesis Design, Reaction Prediction and Synthetic Feasibility. Molecular Informatics 2014 , 33 (6-7) , 469-476. https://doi.org/10.1002/minf.201400052
• Paul M. Zimmerman . Automated discovery of chemically reasonable elementary reaction steps. Journal of Computational Chemistry 2013 , 34 (16) , 1385-1392. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.23271
• Sergey A. Nizkorodov , Julia Laskin , Alexander Laskin . Molecular chemistry of organic aerosols through the application of high resolution mass spectrometry. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2011 , 13 (9) , 3612. https://doi.org/10.1039/c0cp02032j

Pair your accounts.

Export articles to Mendeley

Get article recommendations from ACS based on references in your Mendeley library.

You’ve supercharged your research process with ACS and Mendeley!

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

Please login with your ACS ID before connecting to your Mendeley account.

This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. By continuing to use the site, you are accepting our use of cookies. Read the ACS privacy policy .

System Message

We are undergoing maintenance which may impact PDF downloads for some users. This update will complete shortly and we appreciate your patience while we improve the ACS Publications Platform.

Please be aware that pubs.acs.org is undergoing maintenance that may have an impact on your experience. During this time, you may not be able to access certain features like purchasing single articles, saving searches, modifying your e-Alert preferences, or accessing Librarian administrative functions. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve the ACS Publications platform.

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser.

Organic chemistry

Course: organic chemistry   >   unit 11.

• Carboxylic acid nomenclature and properties
• Reduction of carboxylic acids
• Preparation of acyl (acid) chlorides
• Preparation of acid anhydrides
• Preparation of esters via Fischer esterification

Preparation of amides using DCC

• Decarboxylation

Want to join the conversation?

• Upvote Button navigates to signup page
• Downvote Button navigates to signup page
• Flag Button navigates to signup page

5.3: Types of Chemical Reactions

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 79224

Learning Outcomes

• Classify a reaction as combination, decomposition, single-replacement, double-replacement, or combustion.
• Predict the products and balance a combustion reaction.

Many chemical reactions can be classified as one of five basic types. Having a thorough understanding of these types of reactions will be useful for predicting the products of an unknown reaction. The five basic types of chemical reactions are combination, decomposition, single-replacement, double-replacement, and combustion. Analyzing the reactants and products of a given reaction will allow you to place it into one of these categories. Some reactions will fit into more than one category.

Combination Reactions

A combination reaction , also known as a synthesis reaction , is a reaction in which two or more substances combine to form a single new substance. Combination reactions can also be called synthesis reactions .The general form of a combination reaction is:

\[\ce{A} + \ce{B} \rightarrow \ce{AB}\]

One combination reaction is two elements combining to form a compound. Solid sodium metal reacts with chlorine gas to product solid sodium chloride.

\[2 \ce{Na} \left( s \right) + \ce{Cl_2} \left( g \right) \rightarrow 2 \ce{NaCl} \left( s \right)\]

Notice that in order to write and balance the equation correctly, it is important to remember the seven elements that exist in nature as diatomic molecules (\(\ce{H_2}\), \(\ce{N_2}\), \(\ce{O_2}\), \(\ce{F_2}\), \(\ce{Cl_2}\), \(\ce{Br_2}\), and \(\ce{I_2}\)).

One sort of combination reaction that occurs frequently is the reaction of an element with oxygen to form an oxide. Metals and nonmetals both react readily with oxygen under most conditions. Magnesium reacts rapidly and dramatically when ignited, combining with oxygen from the air to produce a fine powder of magnesium oxide.

\[2 \ce{Mg} \left( s \right) + \ce{O_2} \left( g \right) \rightarrow 2 \ce{MgO} \left( s \right)\]

Decomposition Reactions

A decomposition reaction is a reaction in which a compound breaks down into two or more simpler substances. The general form of a decomposition reaction is:

\[\ce{AB} \rightarrow \ce{A} + \ce{B}\]

Most decomposition reactions require an input of energy in the form of heat, light, or electricity.

Binary compounds are compounds composed of just two elements. The simplest kind of decomposition reaction is when a binary compound decomposes into its elements. Mercury (II) oxide, a red solid, decomposes when heated to produce mercury and oxygen gas.

\[2 \ce{HgO} \left( s \right) \rightarrow 2 \ce{Hg} \left( l \right) + \ce{O_2} \left( g \right)\]

A reaction is also considered to be a decomposition reaction even when one or more of the products is still a compound. A metal carbonate decomposes into a metal oxide and carbon dioxide gas. For example, calcium carbonate decomposes into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide.

\[\ce{CaCO_3} \left( s \right) \rightarrow \ce{CaO} \left( s \right) + \ce{CO_2} \left( g \right)\]

Metal hydroxides decompose on heating to yield metal oxides and water. Sodium hydroxide decomposes to produce sodium oxide and water.

\[2 \ce{NaOH} \left( s \right) \rightarrow \ce{Na_2O} \left( s \right) + \ce{H_2O} \left( g \right)\]

Single-Replacement Reactions

A single-replacement reaction is a reaction in which one element replaces a similar element in a compound . The general form of a single-replacement (also called single-displacement) reaction is:

\[\ce{A} + \ce{BC} \rightarrow \ce{AC} + \ce{B}\]

In this general reaction, element \(\ce{A}\) is a metal and replaces element \(\ce{B}\), also a metal, in the compound. When the element that is doing the replacing is a nonmetal, it must replace another nonmetal in a compound, and the general equation becomes:

\[\ce{Y} + \ce{XZ} \rightarrow \ce{XY} + \ce{Z}\]

\(\ce{Y}\) is a nonmetal and replaces the nonmetal \(\ce{Z}\) in the compound with \(\ce{X}\).

Magnesium is a more reactive metal than copper. When a strip of magnesium metal is placed in an aqueous solution of copper (II) nitrate, it replaces the copper. The products of the reaction are aqueous magnesium nitrate and solid copper metal.

\[\ce{Mg} \left( s \right) + \ce{Cu(NO_3)_2} \left( aq \right) \rightarrow \ce{Mg(NO_3)_2} \left( aq \right) + \ce{Cu} \left( s \right)\]

Many metals react easily with acids, and, when they do so, one of the products of the reaction is hydrogen gas. Zinc reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce aqueous zinc chloride and hydrogen (see figure below).

\[\ce{Zn} \left( s \right) + 2 \ce{HCl} \left( aq \right) \rightarrow \ce{ZnCl_2} \left( aq \right) + \ce{H_2} \left( g \right)\]

Figure 10.6.1: Zinc metal reacts with hydrochloric acid to give off hydrogen gas in a single-replacement reaction.

Figure 10.6.2: Pictured here is about 3 pounds of sodium metal reacting with water. Sodium metal reacts vigorously when dropped into a container of water, giving off hydrogen gas. A large piece of sodium will often generate so much heat that the hydrogen will ignite.

Double-Replacement Reactions

A double-replacement reaction is a reaction in which the positive and negative ions of two ionic compounds exchange places to form two new compounds . The general form of a double-replacement (also called double-displacement) reaction is:

\[\ce{AB} + \ce{CD} \rightarrow \ce{AD} + \ce{CB}\]

In this reaction, \(\ce{A}\) and \(\ce{C}\) are positively-charged cations, while \(\ce{B}\) and \(\ce{D}\) are negatively-charged anions. Double-replacement reactions generally occur between substances in aqueous solution. In order for a reaction to occur, one of the products is usually a solid precipitate, a gas, or a molecular compound such as water.

A precipitate forms in a double-replacement reaction when the cations from one of the reactants combine with the anions from the other reactant to form an insoluble ionic compound. When aqueous solutions of potassium iodide and lead (II) nitrate are mixed, the following reaction occurs.

\[2 \ce{KI} \left( aq \right) + \ce{Pb(NO_3)_2} \left( aq \right) \rightarrow 2 \ce{KNO_3} \left( aq \right) + \ce{PbI_2} \left( s \right)\]

Figure 10.6.3: When a few drops of lead (II) nitrate are added to a solution of potassium iodide, a yellow precipitate of lead (II) iodide immediately forms in a double-replacement reaction.

Combustion Reactions

A combustion reaction is a reaction in which a substance reacts with oxygen gas, releasing energy in the form of light and heat. Combustion reactions must involve \(\ce{O_2}\) as one reactant. The combustion of hydrogen gas produces water vapor (see figure below).

\[2 \ce{H_2} \left( g \right) + \ce{O_2} \left( g \right) + 2 \ce{H_2O} \left( g \right)\]

Notice that this reaction also qualifies as a combination reaction.

Figure 10.6.4: The Hindenburg was a hydrogen-filled airship that suffered an accident upon its attempted landing in New Jersey in 1937. The hydrogen immediately combusted in a huge fireball, destroying the airship and killing 36 people. The chemical reaction was a simple one: hydrogen combining with oxygen to produce water.

Many combustion reactions occur with a hydrocarbon, a compound made up solely of carbon and hydrogen. The products of the combustion of hydrocarbons are always carbon dioxide and water. Many hydrocarbons are used as fuel because their combustion releases very large amount of heat energy. Propane \(\left( \ce{C_3H_8} \right)\) is a gaseous hydrocarbon that is commonly used as the fuel source in gas grills.

\[\ce{C_3H_8} \left( g \right) + 5 \ce{O_2} \left( g \right) \rightarrow 3 \ce{CO_2} \left( g \right) + 4 \ce{H_2O} \left( g \right)\]

Example 10.6.1

Ethanol can be used as a fuel source in an alcohol lamp. The formula for ethanol is \(\ce{C_2H_5OH}\). Write the balanced equation for the combustion of ethanol.

Step 1: Plan the problem.

Ethanol and oxygen are the reactants. As with a hydrocarbon, the products of the combustion of an alcohol are carbon dioxide and water.

Step 2: Solve.

Write the skeleton equations: \(\ce{C_2H_5OH} \left( l \right) + \ce{O_2} \left( g \right) \rightarrow \ce{CO_2} \left( g \right) + \ce{H_2O} \left( g \right)\)

Balance the equation.

\[\ce{C_2H_5OH} \left( l \right) + 3 \ce{O_2} \left( g \right) \rightarrow 2 \ce{CO_2} \left( g \right) + 3 \ce{H_2O} \left( g \right)\]

Step 3: Think about your result.

Combustion reactions must have oxygen as a reactant. Note that the water that is produced is in the gas state rather that the liquid state because of the high temperatures that accompany a combustion reaction.

Supplemental Resources

• Simulation of the synthesis of water: http://www.dit.ncssm/edu/core/Chapte...Synthesis.html
• View the synthesis of calcium oxide at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-dszSKIM5rqk
• View the reaction between copper and chlorine gas at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-edLpxdERQZc
• Watch the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5FyaqNx54
• Watch the decomposition of potassium chlorate at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svRIg_kzE68
• A video experiment of hydrogen replacement by calcium can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjB96do_fRw
• A video experiment of magnesium metal reacting with hydrochloric acid can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBdgeJFzSec
• Watch an animation of a double-replacement reaction at http://www.dlt.ncssm.edu/core/Chapte...cidToBase.html
• A video experiment in which a precipitate is formed by reacting sodium chloride with silver nitrate can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFF3El4mwok
• A video experiment of the double-replacement reaction between copper (II) sulfate and sodium sulfide can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKBDcFfZWo
• A video of the double-replacement reaction between sodium sulfate and barium chloride can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaMyfjYLhxU
• View an in-depth explanation of the combustion reaction that occurs when you strike a match at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cigarette/onfire.html
• View an exciting video demonstration that confirms the importance of oxygen in a combustion reaction at http://education.jlab.org/frost/life_candle.html
• View another video demonstration that confirms the importance of oxygen in a combustion reaction at http://education.jlab.org/frost/combustion.html
• Reaction Identification Practice: http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry...tification.htm

Contributors

Allison Soult , Ph.D. (Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky)

Chemistry Unit 8: Chemical Reactions Homework Pages

These high school chemistry worksheets are full of pictures, diagrams, and deeper questions covering all aspects of chemical reactions! This unit is meant to cover the basics of chemical reactions (combustion, synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement) along with solubility and metal reactivity.

These 20 pages provide a lot of ways a teacher could differentiate because they provide options for teachers. Teachers can cover these concepts all separately:

1) Balancing and classifying equations

2) Predicting reactions (given that the reaction can occur)

3) Predicting reactions (given that a reaction in a question may or may not occur, students have to decide!)

Each type of reaction (synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, combustion) are treated separately and teachers can teach them separately and have students practice using these pages.

This unit is designed to help students practice these skills that are important for the rest of the year in chemistry.

This unit contains these pages:

1. Chemical Equation Basics

2. Solubility Basics

3. Is It Soluble?

4. Reactivity Series Practice

5. Write Chemical Equation from Sentence

6. Write a Sentence from a Chemical Equation

7. Oxidation Numbers

8. Balance and Classify: Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions

9. Balance and Classify: Single Replacement Reactions

10. Balance and Classify: Double Replacement

11. Balance: Combustion Reactions

12. Balance: Challenge Questions

13. Net Ionic Reactions for Precipitation Reactions

14. Predict Products: Decomposition Reactions

15. Predict Products: Single Replacement Reactions I (All react)

16. Predict Products: Single Replacement Reactions II (Some react, some don't)

17. Balance and Predict Nonmetal Replacement Reactions

18. Predict Products: Double Replacement Reactions (All react)

19. Predict Products: Precipitation Reactions (Some react, some don't)

20. Predict Products: Mixed Type Problems

Each page will be unique. Each is designed to roughly cover the material that I would teach in an hour long class period. These are terrific for daily homework assignments because they don’t take too long to complete.

These pages have been carefully designed in Illustrator. I have created a unique set of questions to help students to review material taught in class and think deeper about the material. Many of the pages ask students to highlight or color something, to identify items in a diagram, to match related concepts, or interact with a topic in a new way. Many of the pages ask students to connect more than one concept; they are intended to help students see the bigger picture in each unit. A few pages ask students to use the internet to do a little research.

If you own any of my other resources, don’t worry about repeat pages. These homework pages are truly unique and separate from my activities. These homework pages will truly complement any activities or resources you already have or use in your class.

Homework Page Implementation Suggestions:

* First of all, I don’t grade it. I learned in my early teaching years that when I grade homework, I am rewarding students who copied off of their one studious friend the period before my class, and I am penalizing students who have limited educational time outside of school. I often give time at the end of the period to work on “homework” pages. Often, I start off the next day’s class with the answer key projected onto some sort of screen (ELMO or projector) so that students can check their answers as they walk in. My students know that they will do better in my class if they do the homework and I care about effort more than being correct.

* Answer keys are included (for almost all of the pages, where it makes sense to have an answer key). I designed these pages to be pretty simple to grade, if you want to do that.

* In my time as a teacher, I have noticed that for some reason, homework assignments that have more than one side of a page are just neglected by students. If I hand out a one sided homework page and tell them, here’s your homework, they say, yay, it’s just 1 page! They will often at least start it if not finish it before the end of the day. I really think there is a psychological barrier to starting an assignment with two sides. Call me crazy, but test it out! Try giving my homework assignments and watch your class actually do their homework!

* A way to save paper would be to print all of the homework assignments and copy them as a packet. This is great to give students all at once in the beginning of the unit, so they have every page in advance, which works great if they’re absent!

All files are non-editable PDFs. They are non-editable to protect the images that are copyrighted and purchased through licenses. Thanks for understanding!

(C) Bethany Lau

All Rights Reserved.

• Track Orders
• Shopping Bag

© 2018 Science with Mrs. Lau

• About the Journal
• Aims and Scope
• Editorial Policies
• Editorial Board
• Junior Editorial Board
• Journal Awards
• Author Instructions
• Article Processing Charges
• Editorial Process
• Manuscript Templates
• Submit a Manuscript

Peer Review Guidelines

• All Articles
• Hot Articles
• Articles with Video Abstracts
• Video Abstract Guidelines
• All Special Issues
• Ongoing Special Issues
• Special Issue Ebooks
• Special Issue Guidelines
• Pre-onlines
• Offline Academic Salon

Chemical Synthesis

Luminescent alkynylplatinum(II) terpyridine-containing conjugated polymers: synthesis, characterization and photophysical studies

Enantioselective synthesis of 3-arylindole atropisomers via organocatalytic indolization of iminoquinones, application of sulfonium and sulfoxonium ylides in organocatalyzed asymmetric reaction.

Prof. Bao-Lian Su University of Namur, Namur, Belgium; Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Recycling valuable materials from the spent lithium ion batteries to catalysts: methods, applications, and characterization, advancements and applications of three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks, biological metal–organic frameworks for natural gas purification and mto product separation.

Macrocycle-based covalent-organic-polymer as efficient oxygen electrocatalysts for zinc-air flow batteries

Construction of piezoelectric photocatalyst au/bivo 4 for efficient degradation of tetracycline and studied at single-particle level, constructing a hierarchical mos 2 /mxene heterostructure for efficient capacitive deionization of saline water, the emerging sr 2 femoo 6 -based electrocatalysts for solid oxide electrochemical cell: synthesis, modulation and applications, nanostructured heterogeneous photocatalyst materials for green synthesis of valuable chemicals, two-dimensional materials: synthesis and applications in the electro-reduction of carbon dioxide, organocatalytic nazarov-type cyclization of 3-alkynyl-2-indolylmethanols: construction of axially chiral cyclopenta[ b ]indole scaffolds.

Topic: The Development of Advanced Materials and Catalysis

Prof. Yong Wang ; Prof. Zhaoqing Liu

Submission Deadline: 30 Sep 2024

Published articles: 0

Topic: Noble Metal-based Nanomaterials and Nanostructures for Next-Generation Energy Conversion and Storage

Dr. Ghulam Yasin

Add your e-mail address to receive forthcoming Issues of this journal:

Disaster Prevention and Resilience

Minerals and Mineral Materials

Chemical Synthesis Unveils Outstanding Editorial Board Members, Junior Editorial Board Members and Newly Promoted Editorial Board Members

Warm congratulations are extended to prof. zhangxing chen, a distinguished guest editor of the journal of chemical synthesis and an outstanding author, on his election to the american academy of engineering.

Committee on Publication Ethics

All published articles are preserved here permanently:

The current browser is not compatible

The following browsers are recommended for the best use experience

Only supports Mac

Chemical Communications

A rapid and eco-friendly approach for the synthesis of low-silica sapo-34 with excellent mto catalytic performance.

A rapid and eco-friendly route has been developed for the synthesis of SAPO-34 with short crystallization time (1-3 h), low silica content (as low as 6.2 wt%) and excellent methanol-to-olefins (MTO) catalytic performance by utilization of recycled mother liquid at elevated crystallization temperature.

Supplementary files

• Supplementary information PDF (1581K)

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions.

X. Zou, D. Fan, X. Zhang, C. Lou, M. Yang, S. Xu, Q. Wang, P. Tian and Z. Liu, Chem. Commun. , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4CC01017E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence . You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication , please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page .

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page .

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content .

Social activity

Search articles by author.

This article has not yet been cited.

Advertisements