Identify the functional groups in cocaine

Question

Chemical structure of cocaine, highlighting its functional groups including esters and a nitrogen-containing ring.

Accepted Answer

All right. Hi, everyone. So this question is asking us to name all of the functional groups present in the molecule shambala. Here we have the structure of odeon o tolonium. Sorry. And here on the screen, if I scroll down slightly are four different answer choices, proposing a combination of various functional groups, including aromatic ring, amide, amine carboxylic acid ester and alcohol. So when it comes to identifying how many functional groups are present, it would be most effective to start off by labeling what structures present inside of the molecule contain other atoms besides simply carbon and hydrogen single bonds. So I'm looking for atoms that are not carbon or hydrogen, but I'm also looking for structures that do not contain simply carbon carbon, single bonds. And so the first one I see on the left side of the structure here is a ring which I'm going to highlight with a green box around it. Now to the right of the first ring is a second one that looks the saint, right? So I'm going to box the second ring in green as well. Now, in between the two rings that I just box in green here is a functional group that contains atoms other than carbon or hydrogen. So I'm going to box that in blue. And so underneath the one that I just highlighted in blue here is another functional group that contains only one oxygen, which I am going to highlight in orange or enclose in an orange box towards the right side of the structure. I have another functional group that does contain atoms other than carbon or hydrogen, which I'm going to box in purple. And then on the very right side of the structure is one functional group involving a nitrogen atom surrounded by carbon atoms. So based on the number of colors that I had to use, we're going to have five different functional groups present in this molecule. Starting off with the first one that I've labeled in green here. Now, the ring structures labeled in green are remarkable because they contain six carbon atoms and three double bonds inside of the ring itself. And if you recall right, the reason why that's remarkable is because that is the structure of benzene. So in the structure of odo loum are two benzene rings. Now, in terms of the functional group, it is a benzene ring, but the more specific name of the functional group would be an aromatic ring. So we will refer to it as such. Here, we have two different or two aromatic makes. Now next is the functional group in between both aromatic rinks which I boxed in blue, right. So in the second functional group here, that's boxed in in blue, we have one carbon atom in the center that is double bonded to one oxygen atom and single bonded to a nitrogen. So because of this structure, right, our second functional group is going to be an aide. It is in a mind because this carbon oxygen double bond is referred to as a car bal and attached to the car bottle is a ni. So that is in a might. So if we consider to the right side of the structure, the functional group that I boxed in purple, it looks very similar to an amide. It looks very similar because we have the same carbonel, right, we have the same carbon oxygen double bond. However, instead of a nitrogen attached to the cartel, we have an oxygen instead. So if we focus her attention on the oxygen that's connected to the carbon carbon, then that oxygen is connected to another carbon. And that is the important distinction it make here because the fact that the second oxygen is connected to another carbon makes this next functional group an ester. This would be an ester because recall that if the second oxygen was connected to a hydrogen instead, in addition to the car bono carbon, it would have been a carboxylic acid. But here we have an Esther. Now, if we circle back to the left side of the compound or the structure the functional group that has an orange box looks very similar to the ester, right? Because notice how we have one oxygen atom surrounded by or connected to two carbon atoms. But the distinction to make here is that an ester must contain a car bal, whereas the functional group in orange does not have a car bal, but it does have two carbon atoms single bonded to an oxygen in the center. So recall that this is going to be an ether. And the reason why I wanted to point out their similarities is because their names sound very similar as well. Ether versus Esther. So it's important to highlight their differences even though they do look similar and they sound similar. Now, lastly, going back to the topic of similarities in both name and structure, we have our final functional group enclosed in red here. And the reason why I want to bring up the conversation about similarities again is because we do have a nitrogen in this functional group as does our amide, right. But unlike the amide, the functional group enclosed in red has no carbonel, it has no carbon but it does have a nitrogen connected to carbon atoms. So because of that distinction, the fourth, sorry, the fifth functional group here is very similar to the amide in both structure and name because there is no car bal adjacent to the nitrogen. Our fifth and final functional group is an Ame. So again, a mean versus a mind similar in name and similar in structure. So it's important to talk about their differences. This would be an A me now to be more specific, the functional group that's labeled in red here is a ordinary Ame because nitrogen is connected to four carbons, therefore giving it a positive charge, but it is still an ait and there you have it. So if I scroll down to my answer choices, the correct answer is going to be option C sorry, option D in the multiple choice because we have an aromatic ring, an amide, an Esther, an ether and an Ame. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.

Identify the functional groups in cocaine

Key Concepts

Functional Groups

Cocaine Structure

Chemical Properties of Cocaine

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