// CHEMISTRY L5 — ORGANIC MECHANISMS
Follow the electrons, one arrow at a time.
A mechanism is the story of a reaction told through moving electrons. Pick a reaction type and step through it — every stage shows exactly which bonds break, which form, and where the electron pairs go.
// FIG. 01 — MECHANISM PLAYER
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LEGEND — MECHANISM NOTATION
// HOMOLYTIC vs HETEROLYTIC — TWO WAYS TO BREAK A BOND
When a covalent bond breaks, its shared pair of electrons has to go somewhere. In homolytic fission the bond splits evenly — each atom keeps one electron, giving two radicals. In heterolytic fission one atom takes both electrons, giving a positive and a negative ion. Radical mechanisms use homolytic fission; ionic mechanisms (like electrophilic addition and nucleophilic substitution) use heterolytic fission.
// THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
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// WHY MECHANISMS MATTER
Knowing the mechanism lets you predict what a new molecule will do, not just memorise reactions. It explains why a reaction needs UV light, why one product forms and not another, and why some reactions happen in one step (SN2) while others go through an intermediate (SN1). The curly arrow — always drawn from a lone pair or a bond to where the electrons end up — is the single most useful tool in organic chemistry.
// REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Cross-check against your own exam board's specification (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, SQA).