Organic Chemistry Tip of the Week

2 Comments / o-chem help / By

Hey Everybody–

 Here is a minor distinction between two reactions that I have lately seen some students get crossed up on. 

Cold KMnO4, when reacted with a double bond, give the diol.

Hot KMnO4, when reacted with a double bond, cleaves the double bond to give two carboxylic acids. 

Temperature is the key here, don’t lose points on this.

 For more information on this, please go to organic chemistry

Good luck and happy reacting.

Dr. Mike Pali got a bachelors degree in chemistry from Binghamton University, a masters degree in organic chemistry from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry from the University of Arizona. His research focus was on novel pain killers which were more potent than morphine but designed to have fewer side effects. There may even be a patent or two that came out of it. Prior to all of this, he was a chemist at Procter and Gamble. After all of that, he (briefly) worked as a post-doctoral assistant at Syracuse University, working on novel organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In between, he did NOT compete at the 1996 Olympics, make the Atlanta Braves opening day roster, or become the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, as he had intended. #fail During this entire time, he always loved helping students, especially if they were struggling with organic chemistry. In 2006, Dr. Pali founded AceOrganicChem.com in order to make learning organic chemistry fast and easy. 14 years and about 60,000 students later we are still helping students to learn organic chemistry one reaction at a time at https://www.aceorganicchem.com

2 thoughts on “Organic Chemistry Tip of the Week”

  1. Willis

    Hi,great information!! It’s really very nice information on organic chemistry.
    organic chemistry is fast becoming popular. Recent surveys indicate that the demand is so strong that supply is just not able to keep up with it.

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