UNIT 14 : CHEMISTRY OF HYDROCARBONS

Chemistry of Hydrocarbons is one of the high-yield chapters in MDCAT Chemistry, sitting within the 25% Chemistry allocation of your 45-question paper.

What this chapter covers:

• Nomenclature of Alkanes
• Free Radical Initiation, propagation and termination
• Mechanism of free radical substitution in alkanes exemplified by Methane and Ethane
• IUPAC nomenclature of Alkenes
• Shapes of the Ethene molecule in terms of Sigma and Pi C-C Bonds
• Structure and reactivity of Alkenes as exemplified by Ethene
• Dehydration of Alcohols and Dehydrohalogenation of RX for the preparation of Ethene
• Shape of the Benzene Molecule (Molecular orbital treatment)
• Resonance, resonance energy and relative stability
• Reactivity of benzene compared with alkanes and alkenes
• Addition reactions of benzene and methylbenzene
• Mechanism of electrophilic substitution in Benzene
• Chemistry of benzene and methylbenzene by nitration, sulphonation, halogenation, Friedel Craft’s Alkylation and acylation
• Positions of substituents in the electrophilic substitution of benzene
• IUPAC naming system of Alkynes
• Preparation of Alkynes using elimination reactions
• Acidity of alkynes
• Chemistry of alkynes by hydrogenation, hydrohalogenation and hydration
• Differentiation between substitution and Addition reactions

This chapter is predominantly conceptual, built around mechanisms, orbital structures, and reaction pathways rather than numerical calculation, though the sheer number of named reactions, catalysts, and directing-group rules pushes much of it into the moderate range on the PMDC’s 15% easy, 70% moderate, 15% difficult split.

Mastery here means holding apart closely related mechanisms, such as free radical substitution versus electrophilic substitution, or ortho-para versus meta direction, since MDCAT questions are built to test exactly these distinctions.

Why this practice set helps:

• Covers every subtopic the PMDC curriculum identifies, plus the supporting concepts textbooks present alongside them
• Every question includes a full explanation of why the correct answer is right and why each other option is wrong
• Built to help you learn faster than passive reading, with nothing the exam may draw from left untouched

Work through this set attentively, and you build the mechanistic clarity and precise recall of conditions, catalysts, and directing effects this chapter demands.