Carbenes

The general formula for a carbene is R2C, where R can be alkyl or hydrogen, such as with the methylene carbene, although in some cases it can represent other substituents. After learning a bit about the geometry of carbenes and other properties, it’s time to talk about what we can do with them. One of … Read more

Carbon atoms deviate from this configuration in one way or another, we get an unstable, and therefore highly reactive species. First we learned about carbocations. These occur when a tetravalent carbon atom loses a bond and therefore makes only three bonds, for a total of six electrons in its outer shell. Contributing only three electrons … Read more