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SN1 SN2 E1 E2 Organic Chemistry Study Guide Cheat Sheet

February 5, 2020 By Leah4sci 17 Comments

Substitution and Elimination reactions are potentially the most difficult topic at the Organic Chemistry 1 Level. Unlike other reactions which follow similar patterns, with the SN1/SN2/E1/E2 reactions you are faced with different circumstances for similar molecules and asked to choose a reaction pathway.

The average cheat sheet gives you a ‘memorize without logic' roadmap, which in my opinion, does NOT help for tricky questions. And so I've put together this ‘logic-based' cheat sheet, to help you understand and recognize what you're looking at with reactions. This is a quick reference, for detailed tutorials on each individual concept, 20+ video series on Substitution and Elimination reactions

I put in countless hours to compile this cheat sheet. If you find it helpful please share using the facebook/twitter… icons above, and leave a comment below letting me know what you like most about it.

Click for full version

sub-elim-cheat-sheet

Filed Under: Organic Chemistry Reference Material Tagged With: cheat sheet, elimination, SN1 SN2 E1 E2, study guide, substitution

Comments

  1. René Burger says

    April 28, 2019 at 4:11 am

    Thank you so much for your help Leah!

    Reply
  2. Aru says

    December 7, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    Great!

    Reply
  3. agustinyuli says

    October 1, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    Thank you so much. It make me easy to learn.

    Reply
  4. deepan2246@gmail.com says

    February 2, 2018 at 8:42 am

    This was really helpful…thx fr talking such a great initiative! 🙂

    Reply
  5. nisanthei says

    December 20, 2017 at 12:34 am

    dear leah, i cant download the cheat sheets, why ?

    Reply
  6. Sahar says

    December 4, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    Thanks a lot, I have my 1st semester exam after two days, and I dont know much. Its really helpful to me.

    Reply
  7. Neon says

    November 29, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    I can’t believe such a beautiful paper existed. THANK YOU TO THE MOON AND BAAAAAACK <3 <3

    Reply
  8. Sagar says

    September 24, 2017 at 1:50 pm

    Awesome cheat sheet for the new comers…..IT will be great for MCQ type questions…But for subjective plz go through the concepts

    Reply
  9. Kris says

    December 5, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    in E2 reactions, t if it react with Bulky base (t-BuOK, diisopropylamine, or triethylamine) –> products should be Hoffman (major) and Zaisev (minor), but with (EtO- ) –> products will be Hoffman (minor) and Zaisev (major)
    I just saw on your video only discuss about Zaitsev product, but it shoule be 2 products each reaction?

    Reply
  10. Bren says

    November 15, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    Leah, would you be able to make these into a print-friendly version for future students? I’ve printed this one (also the Alkene reactions) out and some of the information was cut off since the image is so large.

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      November 16, 2015 at 2:57 pm

      Bren if you download the PDF it’s formatted to fit a standard print page

      Reply
  11. TPL says

    January 19, 2015 at 12:46 am

    Agree with commenter above. You state polar protic solvents favor SN2. This is incorrect. A protic solvent will form hydrogen bonds and solvate a nucleophile, thus slowing down the SN2 by forcing the breaking of hydrogen bonds. Polar *a*protic solvents are used to encourage SN2.

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      January 19, 2015 at 3:36 pm

      You are correct, the error came when moving parts around on the cheat sheet. Sorry for the misunderstandings. I will correct it shortly

      Reply
  12. Rukshi Seelan says

    January 12, 2015 at 7:15 am

    Great summary. Really useful for a quick overview.

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      January 12, 2015 at 8:16 am

      Thank you Rukshi

      Reply
  13. Christian says

    October 24, 2014 at 1:45 am

    I believe that there is a typo in this cheat sheet, Polar Aprotic Solvents, like acetone and DMSO, will favor Sn2 as opposed to Sn1. It is correct the first time, but towards the bottom it appears mislabeled.

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      October 24, 2014 at 9:56 am

      You’re right Christian. I think I tried to squish too much into the tiny space. Hopefully you got a ton of value from the rest of the cheat sheet

      Reply

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