Skip to content

Wall chart

Organic conversions

Organic is 26 of the 70 marks in Chemistry, and it is pattern-based — the same conversions come round every year. Chemistry is scored in half marks, so the reagent alone is worth writing even when you cannot finish the chain.

Set your printer to A3 if you have it, landscape, and it will fill a wall. A4 works too.

Organic conversions

Class 12 Chemistry — the reagent above the arrow

Haloalkanes

Alcohol → Haloalkane
SOCl₂ (or PCl₅ / HX)
Haloalkane → Alcohol
aq. KOH
Haloalkane → Alkene
alc. KOH
Haloalkane → Nitrile
alc. KCN
Haloalkane → Amine
alc. NH₃, heat
Haloarene → Phenol
NaOH, 623 K, 300 atm

Alcohols & phenols

Alkene → Alcohol
H₂O/H⁺ (Markovnikov)
Alkene → Anti-Markovnikov
B₂H₆ then H₂O₂/OH⁻
1° Alcohol → Aldehyde
PCC
1° Alcohol → Acid
KMnO₄/H⁺
2° Alcohol → Ketone
PCC or CrO₃
Phenol → Salicylaldehyde
CHCl₃ + NaOH (Reimer–Tiemann)
Phenol → Salicylic acid
CO₂ + NaOH (Kolbe)

Carbonyls

Acid → Acid chloride
SOCl₂
Acid chloride → Aldehyde
H₂/Pd–BaSO₄ (Rosenmund)
Nitrile → Aldehyde
SnCl₂/HCl then H₃O⁺ (Stephen)
Aldehyde → Alcohol
NaBH₄ or LiAlH₄
Carbonyl → Alkane
Zn-Hg/HCl (Clemmensen) · NH₂NH₂/KOH (Wolff–Kishner)
Aldol condensation
dil. NaOH — needs α-H
Cannizzaro
conc. NaOH — no α-H

Amines

Nitro → Amine
Sn/HCl or H₂/Pd
Amide → 1° Amine (one C less)
Br₂/KOH (Hofmann)
Nitrile → 1° Amine
LiAlH₄ or H₂/Ni
Aniline → Diazonium
NaNO₂ + HCl, 273–278 K
Diazonium → Phenol
H₂O, warm
Diazonium → Halide
CuCl / CuBr (Sandmeyer)
Diazonium → Azo dye
Phenol / aniline, coupling

Distinguishing tests

Aldehyde vs ketone
Tollens' (silver mirror) · Fehling's (red ppt)
Methyl ketone
Iodoform test — I₂/NaOH, yellow ppt
1° / 2° / 3° amine
Hinsberg test
Phenol
Neutral FeCl₃ — violet colour
Carboxylic acid
NaHCO₃ — effervescence

Standard CBSE Class 12 Organic Chemistry conversions. Check anything you are unsure of against NCERT before you rely on it.