# Organic Reactions Map - Functional Group Interconversions, Conditions, Equations & Synthesis Routes

> Interactive functional-group map: reagents, conditions, balanced equations and pitfalls for each reaction, tests for each class, and a shortest-route finder.

- URL: https://qilingtools.com/en/chemistry/organic-reactions
- Category: Chemistry Tools (https://qilingtools.com/en/chemistry)
- Tags: [Chemistry](https://qilingtools.com/en/tags/chemistry)
- Last updated: 2026-10-29
- Price: Free, no sign-up
- Privacy: Runs locally in the browser; files are never uploaded

Most of introductory organic chemistry is about turning one functional group into another. This tool draws alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, organohalides, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, ethers, phenols, benzene, nitro compounds, amines, amides, sugars and polymers as a clickable network, with arrows coloured by reaction type: substitution, addition, elimination, oxidation, reduction, esterification, hydrolysis and polymerization. Click an arrow to see the reagents and conditions (ethanol with conc. H₂SO₄ at 170 °C eliminates to ethene, but at 140 °C gives diethyl ether; a haloalkane heated with aqueous NaOH gives the alcohol, while NaOH in ethanol gives the alkene), an example equation from the ethyl series (2CH₃CH₂OH + O₂ →(Cu, heat) 2CH₃CHO + 2H₂O; CH₃CHO + 2[Ag(NH₃)₂]OH → CH₃COONH₄ + 2Ag↓ + 3NH₃ + H₂O), the key mechanistic idea and common exam pitfalls. Every example equation is checked for atom balance by the program, with polymers checked per repeat unit. Click a class to see its general formula, functional group, properties, identification tests (silver mirror and brick-red Cu₂O for aldehydes, decolourizing bromine water and acidic KMnO₄ for C=C, violet colour with FeCl₃ for phenols, blue-black with iodine for starch) and every reaction into or out of it. The synthesis route finder runs a breadth-first search over the class graph and lists all routes with the fewest steps, with reagents for each: ethene → ethyl ethanoate goes ethene → ethanol (hydration) → ester (with ethanoic acid), and the ethanoic acid itself can be made by ethene → ethanol → ethanoic acid. Switch between a high-school scope and one that adds introductory university reactions such as Friedel–Crafts, Wacker oxidation and LiAlH₄ reduction.

## How to use

1. Choose the high-school scope or include introductory university reactions
2. Click an arrow for conditions, equations, mechanism and pitfalls, or click a node for that class's properties, tests and reactions
3. In the route finder pick a start and a target class to get the shortest routes with reagents for every step

## Features

- Clickable map of 17 compound classes and 40+ reactions
- Arrows coloured by substitution, addition, elimination, oxidation, reduction, esterification, hydrolysis and polymerization
- Reagents, conditions, reaction type, example equations, mechanism notes and exam pitfalls for each reaction
- Every example equation checked for atom balance, with one-click copy
- General formula, functional group, properties and identification tests for each class
- Breadth-first-search route finder listing all shortest routes and where co-reactants come from
- High-school and intro-university scopes; the map scrolls sideways on phones

## FAQ

### Why does ethanol with concentrated sulfuric acid give ethene at one temperature and ether at another?

Temperature decides the reaction type. Heated quickly to 170 °C, ethanol loses water within one molecule (elimination) to give ethene: CH₃CH₂OH → CH₂=CH₂ + H₂O. At 140 °C two ethanol molecules lose one water between them (substitution) to give diethyl ether: 2CH₃CH₂OH → CH₃CH₂OCH₂CH₃ + H₂O. The thermometer must dip into the reaction mixture, and boiling chips prevent bumping.

### When does a haloalkane undergo substitution and when elimination with NaOH?

It depends on the solvent. Aqueous NaOH, heated, hydrolyses it (substitution) to the alcohol: CH₃CH₂Br + NaOH → CH₃CH₂OH + NaBr. NaOH dissolved in ethanol, heated, eliminates HBr to give the alkene: CH₃CH₂Br + NaOH → CH₂=CH₂ + NaBr + H₂O. Elimination needs a hydrogen on the carbon next to C–X, so bromomethane cannot eliminate.

### How do you test for an aldehyde group?

Two classic tests: warm the sample with Tollens' reagent (ammoniacal silver nitrate) in a water bath and a silver mirror forms, 2 mol Ag per mol –CHO; or boil it with freshly made Cu(OH)₂ in excess NaOH (Fehling-type test) and a brick-red Cu₂O precipitate forms. Both need alkaline conditions. Glucose, methanoic acid and its esters contain –CHO and give positive results; ketones do not.

### How does the synthesis route finder work?

Each compound class is a node and each reaction a directed edge. A breadth-first search finds every route from the start class to the target with the fewest steps and shows the reagents and an example equation for each step. When a step needs a second reactant (esterification needs an acid and an alcohol), the tool also shows the shortest way to make that reactant from the start material. Routes work at the level of functional-group classes; a real synthesis must also consider chain length, position and side reactions.

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