Organic synthesis quiz

This resource accompanies the Education in Chemistry article Teaching organic synthesis at post-16, where you will find advice and ideas to help learners master this challenging topic and combat misconceptions. 

Learning objectives

1. Apply IUPAC nomenclature rules to a range of organic compounds.
2. Recall reagents and conditions in single- and multi-stage organic pathways.
3. Determine correct structures as intermediates or products in reaction sequences.

How to use

This multiple choice quiz has been designed to be similar to the questions learners aged 16–18 years may face in examinations, but has a low barrier for participation. The quiz can be used to check understanding after completing the organic chemistry topics and for revision. 

Further organic synthesis questions can be used to build on the answers and provide a challenge. For example, ask your learners to draw the displayed formulae of named compounds, give them atom economy calculations to complete and mechanisms to draw. Use the questions to start discussions with your class surrounding the overlapping topics and their applications, including careers, too.

The questions in the PowerPoint can be displayed on a screen or copied and pasted into an interactive quizzing tool. Exam specifications differ, so each question slide includes tags with topics in the notes section. There is also a feedback prompt for each question. All questions and notes can be edited.

Questions cover a wide range of topics including: alcohols, addition, aldehyde, alkanes, alkenes, amides, amines, benzene, bonding, carbonyls, carboxylic acids, electrophiles, electrophilic addition, esters, formulae, free radicals, green chemistry, halogenoalkanes, Markovnikov, monomers, multiple representations, nitriles, nomenclature, nucleophilic addition elimination, nucleophilic substitution, oxidation, polymers, reaction types, reactivity and reduction.